Nearly two-thirds of Hong Kong Airlines workers are laid off or take pay cuts
- The airline, backed by the bankrupt HNA Group, cites in its redundancy notices its plans to reduce operating capacity going forward
- Employees who opted for pay cuts were effectively required to agree to either five or seven months’ unpaid leave
Almost two-thirds of Hong Kong Airlines’ workforce has either been made redundant or opted to take a significant pay cut to keep their jobs, the
Post has learned.
The ailing airline, backed by the bankrupt HNA Group, started issuing redundancy notices on Wednesday.
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.
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.
The carrier said it would also move out of its main headquarters in Tung Chung to its training centre at Hong Kong International Airport to cut costs.
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.
The
Post has contacted the airline for comment.