Facing loss, Singapore Airlines plans to cut jobs to trim costs

Singapore Airlines Ltd., fighting a slump in traffic and facing a loss, said Tuesday it would shed jobs this week to cut costs. ‘‘...

Singapore Airlines Ltd., fighting a slump in traffic and facing a loss, said Tuesday it would shed jobs this week to cut costs.

‘‘We have made it clear to our staff that some degree of retrenchment can’t be avoided,’’ said spokesman Rick Clements. He declined to discuss the specific size or timing of the cuts.

The Straits Times, in a front-page story, Tuesday, quoted unidentified sources as saying the airline could cut as many as 2,500 jobs. The job cuts, which would be the airline’s first since some 240 full-time staff, were laid off about 20 years ago, would include positions at SIA Engineering and Singapore Airport Terminal Services, its two listed units. Together, the three companies employ nearly 29,000 people. The company intends to trim cabin crew and pilot payrolls by between 2 and 5 per cent, the newspaper reported. The 1,800 pilots and 6,600 cabin crew have agreed to a one week, no-pay leave every two months.

Singapore Airlines is also urging workers to take pay cuts of up to 22.5 per cent—a move that its unions are resisting. The airline and its powerful pilots’ union have taken the wage-cut dispute to the Industrial Arbitration Court, whose decision will be final and legally binding.