Vietnam Airlines plans to reduce the wages of flight staff by roughly half this year as part of a cost-cutting campaign to win a government bailout that would cushion the financial distress caused by the global pandemic. The average monthly wage of pilots will drop by 52% to 77m dong ($3,320), according to local media reports. Flight attendants and ground crew will incur a 48% and 45% cut, respectively. Vietnam Airlines, which forecasts a loss of 15t dong this year, indicates it will trim costs by 68%, with labor expenses being a main target. Last month, the flag carrier requested 12 trillion dong in emergency government financing. "Without the support, we will be in an extremely difficult situation at the end of August," said CEO Duong Tri Thanh. The biggest reason for the financial hardship is the grounding of international flights. Vietnam Airlines has attempted to restart the flights, but it has yet to realize its goals.<br/>
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Delta will need at least 3,000 of its roughly 20,000 flight attendants to take unpaid leave of four to 12 months, or consider other options, to avoid involuntary furloughs, a person with knowledge of the matter said Friday. Airlines are suffering their worst crisis in history due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which decimated air travel demand and crushed the US economy in Q2. Delta would need at least 3,000 of its roughly 20,000 flight attendants to take unpaid leave of up to 12 months, among other options outlined in a memo. Delta told pilots last month it would avoid furloughs if they agreed to reduced guaranteed minimum pay. More than 17,000 workers at Delta, which had more than 91,000 employees in 2019, are taking voluntary departure packages, including more than 1,700 of 7,900 pilots, Reuters reported last month. <br/>
China Airlines plans to inject as much as NT$2b ($68m) of equity into low-cost subsidiary Tigerair Taiwan. China Airlines, which owns 69.45% of Tigerair Taiwan, describes the purpose of the injection as a “long-term equity investment”, a 6 August filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange shows. The investment is pending a follow-up resolution of Tigerair Taiwan’s board of directors to confirm the number of shares to be issued and the price per share, the filing adds. The airline launched in September 2014, with China Airlines holding a 90% stake and the remaining 10% with Singapore-based Tigerair. China Airlines bought out Tigerair’s stake in December 2016. In December 2019, Tigerair Taiwan debuted its shares on the Taipei Exchange’s Emerging Stock Board, a preparatory board for the nation’s two main bourses.<br/>