Singapore Airlines (SIA) is letting go around 20 percent of its workforce, which means around 4300 employee of the airline will lose their job, the media reported.
The job cuts will be made in Singapore Airlines as well as its subsidies SilkAir and Scoot.
Chief Executive Officer Goh Choon Phong told the media, “Having to let go of our valuable and dedicated people is the hardest and most agonizing decision that I have had to make in my 30 years with SIA. The next few weeks will be some of the toughest in the history of the SIA Group.”
“When the battle against Covid-19 began, none of us could have predicted its devastating impact on the entire aviation industry. Eight months on, the number of carriers that have collapsed continues to rise. It is still not clear who will ultimately survive this crisis,” Goh added.
The coronavirus has taken a heavy toll on the global aviation industries with carrier all over the globe are set to lose billions in revenue this year.
In the month of June, Singapore Airlines revealed that it secured an additional $1 billion in credit facilities to help the carrier deal with the coronavirus pandemic.
This is in addition to the $6.32 billion it raised for a rights issue.
It raised around S$900 million through loans on some of its aircraft. Besides that, it also arranged new lines of credit and a short-term loan of around S$500 million with several banks for further liquidity.
It also raised around $542 million as long-term loans by securing some of its Airbus and Boeing aircraft under its fleet. The carrier has raised the loans by securing its Airbus A350-900s and Boeing 878-10s.