The Singapore Airlines Group confirmed late last week that 6,000 of its staff, over 20 percent of its workforce, have gone on no-pay leave to date as air travel remains off the board and its fleet remains grounded. Some of the leave is voluntary, under a scheme introduced in early March whereby staff can take anywhere between one week to six months of no-pay leave in 2020 while retaining their medical benefits. Some is compulsory, as in the case of pilots, who were put on compulsory no-pay leave starting April.

In addition, the Straits Times reported that SIA has released its staff to seek secondary employment with external organizations, and has been actively arranging temporary and secondary job placements, as well as internal volunteer roles, for those who are interested. Around 1,700 SIA employees, including both flight and ground staff, have already taken up either the external placements or the internal roles.

While the airline did not disclose whether any department was particularly affected, it's known that the income of flight staff has taken a serious blow from the pandemic: flight allowances make up a substantial amount of their pay, and with the vast majority of SIA's fleet grounded, cabin crews and pilots have effectively taken a huge pay cut.

SIA, like most other airlines, has been running at massive losses since COVID-19 caused the closure of borders and the cancellation of air travel around the world. At the end of July,the airline reported an operating loss of S$1.12 billion (US$820 million), which it attributed to a 99.5 percent plunge in passenger traffic. The losses are likely to drag out, as the International Air Transport Association latest projections suggest that passenger traffic will not return to pre-pandemic levels until 2024—one year later than their initial forecast of 2023.