AirAsia to lay off more workers

KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysia’s flagship budget airline AirAsia Group is set to lay off hundreds more jobs as the company is still reeling in with the impact of Covid-19 pandemic on the economy.

It’s Malaysian unit and subsidiary AirAsia X Bhd also plans to cut staff. The affected staff will be informed within 72 hours. The company will also be providing assistance such as year-end flight coupon redemptions and medical benefits.

According to Chief executive officer Riad Asmat, the airliner has sought the support from the government but had not received any feedback as of the moment.

Those retrenched employees will have the opportunity to be re-hired again once the company recovers from the pandemic.

AirAsia Group Bhd posted a RM992.89 million net loss in the second quarter compared to the RM17.34 million net profit in the same period last year.

The airline revenue dropped by 96% to RM118.96 million from the previous RM2.92 billion.

Chief Executive Officer Benyamin Ismail said that they have no idea when they will be flying and thought it is for the best to retrench and hope we give certainty to the people. The company’s layoffs would be completed by the end of September while AirAsia X staff affected by the layoff will be leaving by the end of October.

Related Article: https://www.theasianaffairs.com/malaysia/2020/08/25/airasia-agoda-team-up-to-boost-e-commerce-platform/