SIA offers voluntary no-pay leave for cabin crew

SIA is offering a scheme for its cabin crew to go on voluntary no-pay leave (VNPL) for 3 months starting from September to address a “temporary crew surplus situation”. SIA confirmed Thursday that it is rolling out the voluntary scheme to its 8,200 cabin crew. It added that having temporary surplus or deficits in cabin crew numbers is "not unusual" due to the nature of its business. The carrier said that the purpose of the scheme is to ensure the airline efficiently manages crew resources and operational requirement. The airline's CE Goh Choon Phong said in June that SIA may cut jobs as part of a business review after swinging to a S$138m net loss in its Q4. Goh added that the SIA staff were aware a reduction of headcount was possible under the review process. <br/>