Turkish Airlines, union agree to slash wages

ISTANBUL

Turkish Airlines will sharply cut wages of its crews and groundstaff but will avoid layoffs under a union-agreed deal as it seeks to recover from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, the Hava-İş union has announced.

The flagship carrier will cut pilot wages by 50 percent, cabin crew wages by 35 percent and other personnel wages by 30 percent, the Hava-İş said in a statement on Aug. 31.

The pay cuts will remain in effect until the end of 2021 but will be reviewed every six months, the union added.

No employees will be furloughed and the company will not use the short labour pay, a government system that provides wage support to employees, according  to the union.

As of the end of March, Turkish Airlines employed some 39,000 people. Its personnel costs were around $490mn.

Turkey gradually restricted both international and domestic flights starting in February, as the novel coronavirus spread across the globe.

Foreign visitors virtually disappeared in April when a partial lockdown was in place, and have only started to trickle back. Arrivals were down 86 percent at 932,927 in July compared to last year, tourism ministry data showed.

Turkish Airlines’ revenue in the second quarter of 2020 stood at 6.18 billion Turkish liras ($843 million), around a third of 18.67 billion lira in the same period last year.

It recorded a net loss of 2.23 billion lira in the same quarter, compared to a profit of 133 million lira in the previous year.