As reported by Stephen Creedy in the Australian . . .
Virgin Blue executives to take pay cut and remove five planes
VIRGIN Blue executives will take a pay cut of up to 30 per cent as the airline sheds 400 jobs and removes up to five planes from service by the start of May.
The airline announced today that it planned to cut domestic capacity by 8 per cent by removing five aircraft from operation.
It said the ``prudent interim capacity management plan'' was in response to a continued forecast deterioration in domestic demand.
The reduction in aircraft means Virgin must shed the 400 full-time positions but chief executive Brett Godfrey has told staff involuntary redunancies would be the carrier's ``very last port of call''.
He has called on the airline's general managers to instead reduce staff by redeploying them to other businesses such as international start-up V Australia, leave without pay, job sharing and a recruitment freeze.
``To start the process, our general managers and executive management have unanimously elected to take a pay cut of 20 to 30 per cent of their annual incomes,'' he told staff in a newsletter.
The aircraft will be kept as operational spares until Virgin believes conditions have improved enough to return them to service or the airline can find viable alternative uses.
Mr Godfrey said the airline's strategy would allow it manage through the downturn as well as ``power back up'' quickly when the economy recovered.
``While we are not pessimistic about the the future, we are pragmatic about how this outlook could impact Virgin Blue, particularly in the Australian market, if we do not stay ahead of the curve,'' he said.