Vietnam Airlines to cut salaries of pilots, flight attendants by half

Pilots’ salaries would be reduced to VND77 million ($3,315) on average, and flight attendants’ to VND13.8 million, the carrier said in a document ahead of its annual general meeting scheduled for August 10.

It has 945 pilots, 130 of them foreigners. The salary cuts are part of its efforts to reduce costs as the pandemic decimates travel demand.

It expects this year’s loss to be around VND15.2 trillion ($654.4 million) on revenues of only VND55.7 trillion. It reported a loss of VND6.64 trillion for the first half.

All international flights have been banned since March and domestic flights were limited during the social distancing period in April.

The airline expects the second half of the year to remain challenging since the global aviation industry's recovery depends on control of the pandemic, vaccines and travel restrictions by countries.

It is also set to seek shareholders’ approval of the sale of nine A321 CEO aircraft from its fleet. It will not pay dividends for 2019.

The airline has asked the government for an urgent VND12 trillion ($520 million) bailout, claiming it would otherwise be in a very difficult situation by the end of August.