MALAYSIA Airlines Bhd has joined other airlines asking their employees to go on unpaid leave because of the Covid-19 outbreak, The Edge reports today.

The business paper cited documents in which the national carrier asked 13,000 employees to take voluntary unpaid leave as the outbreak takes a heavy toll on its bottom line.

Employees can take three-month no-pay leave or five-day no-pay leave per month, for at least three months, starting April. 

The voluntary unpaid leave programme also involves subsidiaries of Malaysia Aviation Group (MAG), such as MAB Kargo, MAB Engineering, Firefly and MASwings.

On Monday, Malaysia Airlines CEO Capt Izham Ismail announced a 10% pay cut for senior management and forgoing allowances as part of move to lower operational costs.

In the first quarter of 2020 alone, Malaysia Airlines removed 7.1% of its capacity and temporarily suspended more than 1,600 flights.

The airline has also slashed its capacity to China by 53% and that to South Korea and Japan by 23%.

“There is just less demand in the marketplace,” Izham said.

Malindo Air has also reportedly ordered its staff to take two weeks of unpaid leave and a 50% salary cut, in addition to suspending flights and asking vendors to delay payments.

Qantas group CEO Alan Joyce is reportedly giving up his salary for the rest of the financial year. Qantas’ board of directors and group executive management will also take a 30% pay cut.

AirAsia, too, has embarked on pay cuts as a measure to mitigate the effect of Covid-19.

Major international airlines, such as Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific, British Airways, Lufthansa, Emirates, Virgin Atlantic and EasyJet, are also offering staff unpaid leave. – March 12, 2020.