Further job losses at SIA viewed as inevitable
Further job losses at SIA viewed as inevitable
Deutsche Press-Agentur, Singapura
Further job losses at Singapore Airlines (SIA) will be
inevitable as the national carrier cuts costs and some of its
work is outsourced to India or elsewhere, Senior Minister Lee
Kuan Yew said in a published interview on Tuesday.
"The luxury of just carrying on as before is something we
cannot afford," Singapore's founding father told The Straits
Times.
Lee said the key question before SIA and Changi Airport was
whether they could continue to compete in a changed environment.
Both have to deal now with the emergence of low-cost carriers
in the region, the risk of long-range aircraft bypassing
Singapore and the threat of new air hubs, said Lee, prime
minister for three decades until he turned over the post to Goh
Chok Tong in 1990.
Noting these trends have already changed the face of aviation
in Europe and the United States, Lee said, "I'm not saying it's
going to happen in six months' time but I think ... two to three
years".
SIA is moving to set up its own budget airline, Tiger Airways.
Another headed by an SIA veteran is also planning to start this
year.
Lee and other ministers earlier warned SIA's pilots that the
government would not allow them to hold the airline to ransom by
taking a confrontational stance.
The government said it was removing the right of pilots' union
members to have final say in any negotiations with management.
Instead decisions would be up to the union's elected leaders.
Staff and management took cuts ranging between 5 per cent and
27.5 per cent during the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)
outbreak earlier this year.
The company reversed a first-ever loss in the April-June
quarter to make a S$306 million (US$170 million) profit in the
succeeding quarter.
Disgruntled pilots voted out their union leadership on
November 17, accusing the executive council of giving in too
easily to management in accepting wage cuts and layoffs at the
height of SARS.
The carrier sacked 596 personnel during the outbreak, the
biggest job-cuts in its 31-year history.