Hard-hit airlines employees appeal for financial aid

[Jonathan Fairfield]

Hard-hit airlines employees appeal for financial aid

 

 

The Thai Pilots Association is asking for financial assistance from the Commerce and Transport ministries after 40,000 airline employees were affected by an emergency decree. Several airlines have grounded most of their flights and there are only 12 flights between provinces left at the moment.

 

About 40,000 airline employees have lost their incomes because of the Covid-19 crisis.

 

The association has appealed to the government for subsidies for airline employees, especially those of Thai Airways and Thai Smile which are state-owned enterprises.

 

Sanong Mingcharoen, head of the pilots association, said that workers in airline businesses have not received any financial aid from the government but they were obligated to obtain money from social security because airlines could not be closed like other businesses.

 

The cancellation of flights had hit airlines' revenue hard. For example, Thai Airways had cut staff salaries by 10-50 per cent. The staff of new airlines usually receive lower salaries than the established ones but even their salaries are being reduced.

 

The salary of flight attendants is normally Bt15,000 but after flight allowances, it will be added about Bt30,000 to Bt40,000. A pilot’s salary is normally in the range of Bt150,000 to Bt200,000. The salaries of this group has been slashed by 80 per cent.

 

The association opened registration for airlines employees seeking financial aid from the government. Employees whose salary does not exceed Bt150,000 a year can receive Bt5,000 payment and those whose salaries exceeded that amount could seek postponement of their tax debt. Within a week, the number of registrants had reached 3,000.

 

Source: https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30385834

 

-- © Copyright The Nation Thailand 2020-04-12

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[tso310]

Are those monthly or weekly salaries ?

[Andrew65]

4 minutes ago, tso310 said:

Are those monthly or weekly salaries ?

I would think monthly.

[Oziex1]

In Australia the Government gave, or will give the flying kangaroo a huge amount of money.

 

The workers stood down by the airline, nothing.

[Srikcir]

18 hours ago, Jonathan Fairfield said:

The cancellation of flights had hit airlines' revenue hard.

For THAI airways that might actually save it money as it has had a net loss for (what?) a decade.

Shutdown THAI (it's majority Thailand state owned) and pay employees monthly unemployment payments equal to their current salaries until restart. For the Thai government that would simply be a reallocation of unlimited capitalization to the airways to operate instead to its employees, excluding company officials.

[Iamemjay]

Lots of times I have seen often misguided, ignorant and snobbish criticism of budget airlines in this forum. But consider this: As against the "upmarket" airlines (Thai, Qantas) approach of running to their government for handouts and simultaneously laying off thousands of staff, Air Asia have negotiated salary cuts - the more senior the person, the larger the cut (15% to 75% and CEO 100%) with the guarantee that not one staff member will lose their job. 

 

I know which company I would prefer to give my business to in the future.

Edited April 13, 2020 by Iamemjay
Typo

[natway09]

All well & good, but Air Asia may not be around after this unless Malaysia orchestrates a bail out package

[drgoon]

A few Governments have instated a wage or salary subsidy.  New Zealand and Australia come to mind.

 

New Zealand have opted for an across the board weekly payment. While it doesn't fully compensate most employees, it does a lot for low income earners who are usually the most vulnerable in times of economic depression. The payment at present is $585 per week which is taxable, leaving the recipient with around $475. 

 

It will be interesting to see how the Thai Government responds. 

 

I have my theory, and I'm not voicing it here.

[natway09]

The number of "unofficial" workers in Thailand is staggering & the Government is making it 

next to impossible for them to even get the Baht 5,000 a month. Just about every bar worker has been turned down unless the lied in their application & stated that they worked on the farm

or a roadside stall.

These "official" workers in the airlines should feel lucky that they will get some form of relief

 

[monkfish]

A lot of people have been hit not just Airline workers maybe Civil Servants should take a 30% cut in salary to help them out.

[rickudon]

Will the brewing companies now get compensation, and their workers?

[sammieuk1]

How the worm has turned after banning me from their email account after posing a simple question of why is their excess baggage prices so exorbitant 3 years ago "oh dear"????  

[Andrew65]

On 4/12/2020 at 11:53 AM, Oziex1 said:

In Australia the Government gave, or will give the flying kangaroo a huge amount of money.

 

The workers stood down by the airline, nothing.

It's very sad to say that many will profiteer from the current situation. (Or, giving the impression that they're taking a cut when they're not really).

There are large companies in the UK where bosses are taking very small pay cuts, but have been promised "enhanced" stock options in 2 or 3 years.

Edited April 16, 2020 by Andrew65