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.