PETALING JAYA: Malindo Air has ordered its staff to take up to a 50% pay cut and two weeks’ unpaid leave, Reuters reported.
The news agency, quoting a company-wide memo it sighted, said this was the result of the coronanvirus epidemic, which had badly hurt demand for air travel.
In the memo, Malindo CEO Mushafiz Mustafa Bakri said the airline had implemented several measures to cope with the revenue shortfall, including suspending flights, appealing to suppliers to defer payments and asking staff to volunteer for unpaid leave.
“With a heavy heart, with not much concrete options, we are now left with no choice but to ask each one of you to take a pay cut of your basic pay of up to 50% for the next several months until normalcy returns,” Mushafiz said in the memo.
Employees were also asked to reduce their number of working days by up to 15 days a month.
Reuters said Malindo Air, the Malaysian arm of Indonesia’s Lion Air, did not respond to requests for comment.
Malindo Air will be the first airline in Malaysia to cut employees’ salary.
