Transport minister Ong Ye Kung has taken to Facebook to contextualise the retrenchment exercise announced by Singapore Airlines earlier in the day.

In his Sept. 10 post, Ong said the inevitable has come to pass despite support measures being rolled out and capital being raised to save jobs and put off letting people go for the longest time.

But SIA can only do so much when air travel worldwide has been decimated.

Ong wrote: "They have delayed this workforce reduction as long as they can, but with air travel decimated by Covid-19, this has unfortunately become inevitable."

The next step will see those displaced from their current roles being retrained for other jobs and industries, where their current skills will be needed.

Ong said SIA will aim to get its planes back in the sky again and Singapore's position as an air hub will be restored.

Ong wrote:

Government will do all we can to support the affected workers. We will work with NTUC Singapore and industry partners to place the workers in jobs, help them transit to other industries, or enrol them in suitable industry attachment and traineeship programmes. I am sure their skills are much needed elsewhere too. More importantly, we will continue to press on, to restore air travel in a safe manner, to get SIA planes back up in the sky, and revive our air hub.

Background

Some 2,400 SIA jobs will be cut.

These jobs are based in Singapore and overseas with foreigners bearing the brunt of the retrenchment.

Factoring in hiring freezes and early retirements, SIA will be reducing total workforce by 4,300.

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