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Rumi Hardasmalani[/h]                                       
                                                             
[email protected]                                                   
   
          Published: 9:46 PM, August 3, 2017
   Updated: 10:56 PM, August 3, 2017
                     SINGAPORE — National carrier Singapore Airlines (SIA) is  asking its cabin crew to go on voluntary no-pay leave (VNPL) for a  period of three months starting in September to address a “temporary  crew surplus situation”.
While the scheme was last rolled  out during the global financial crisis in 2009, the flag carrier  intends to offer it “from time to time, going forward”  to enable the  airline to be “more flexible and nimble in managing crew resources”, an  SIA spokesperson told TODAY.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  
                SIA employs about 14,800 staff, of which 8,200 are cabin crew.
SIA Group, including SIA Engineering, SilkAir, SIA Cargo, Scoot and other subsidiaries, employ about 25,800 people.
The  airline said the nature of its business is such that it may encounter  short-term periods of manpower surplus or deficits at specific ranks as  its network expands and contracts, depending on peak or lean travel  seasons.
“The division will need to exercise flexibility  and nimbleness to better manage crew resources. VNPL and the leave  buy-back scheme are measures that the division will take from time to  time to achieve this objective,” SIA said in a notice to its cabin crew  sent out on Wednesday (Aug 3) announcing the introduction of the VNPL  scheme.
The notice explained that given the temporary  crew surplus situation, the cabin crew division will be introducing the  VNPL option for Chief Steward/Stewardess (CS/CSS) and Flight  Steward/Stewardess ranks (FS/FSS), so as to better manage crew resources  and operational requirements.
SIA has four ranks of  crew, in ascending order: FS/FSS, LS/LSS (Leading Steward/Stewardess),  CS/CSS and IFM (In-Flight Manager), said a company spokesperson.
The  airline spokesperson said the initiative is specific to the cabin crew  division and no such scheme is available to employees at the other  departments, and stressed that the scheme is entirely voluntary.
According to analysts, SIA has been under strong competitive pressure from other carriers in Asia and the Middle East.
The airline’s move to making operations a lot more flexible appears to be aimed at managing costs better.
“That  means that during periods of low demand they will operate fewer flights  in order to maintain their profit margins, resulting in some periods  where they may have a surplus of operational staff.
“SIA’s  new approach of flexing capacity up and down to match demand should  deliver more sustainable profits, but does also mean some uncertainty  for staff that may be asked to take short-term unpaid leave,” said Mr  Ellis Taylor, Asia finance editor at FlightGlobal.
He  also noted that SIA will ramp up capacity towards the end-of-the-year  peak-travel season, given the VNPL offer is for a short period.
“SIA is being flexible rather than having to make structural changes, such as by offering redundancies,” Mr Taylor added.
The  airline’s CEO, Mr Goh Choon Phong, said in June that jobs are likely to  be cut as part of the airline’s business review to revive earnings  following a surprise net loss of S$138 million in the fourth-quarter  ended March 31 — its first loss in five years.
SIA had  stated it would be taking “bold radical measures”, with a focus on  enhancing cost and service efficiencies to better position the company  for long-term growth.
In view of a challenging 2017, SIA  also set up a dedicated transformation office to conduct a “wide-ranging  review” to ensure sustainable growth.
Mr Taylor noted that VNPL is a tool that a number of other airlines use during the downturn.
For  instance, almost all the United States carriers “furloughed” pilots and  cabin crew after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, some of whom had to wait  for years to get back to work with their airlines.