Hong Kong Airlines decided to lay off some 700 staffers in a redundancy exercise commencing today , with this , only 100 to 200 employees will remain after this layoff.
This layoff is expected to cover workers from different ranks, including flight pursers and senior pursers. Sources also said great number of junior flight attendants will also be fired.
Already, Out of the company’s 2,100 employees, 60 per cent either lost their job or took a steep pay cut. Most of the cutbacks were among the airline’s cabin crew.
A spokesperson of the airline, said the airline is in a survival mode and it is imperative for them to transform into a leaner and more efficient organization.
“As we downsize by merging departments and consolidating job responsibilities, employee surplus in the new operational structure are being addressed through various actions”, the airline said.
According to one of the redundancy letters, the airline cited its recent disclosure that it would be operating just eight Airbus A330 widebody aircraft, primarily to fly cargo.
The repositioning reflected its lack of confidence in a recovery in passenger demand, while air freight has been a profit-generating enterprise.
Under its drastic rescue plan, the airline grounded all of its Airbus A320 short-haul planes, though only a handful of the dozen operated by the airline had been flying during the pandemic.
Wednesday’s pay cuts call for staff to agree to take either six or nine months of leave in exchange for just one or two months’ pay, respectively.
It also added salaries for senior management will be further reduced from the current 15% to as high as 36%, depending on job grade.
A new pilot contract was also introduced cutting basic pay by a fifth and removing a guarantee on the number of paid hours per month, while extending unpaid leave.
Records showed that Hong Kong Airline received HK$150 million subsidy under the government's employment support scheme.
