T

housands of jobs in the country’s aviation industry are at risk, as the coronavirus pandemic has crippled almost all airline operators.

Local airlines have not announced layoff plans, but many workers feel it is only a matter of time before cuts start. Airline companies have cut down on the number of flights they operate and introduced cost-cutting measures to cope with the impact of COVID-19 on business.

A cabin attendant who works for AirAsia Indonesia said that she lost part of her monthly income after the airline decided to temporarily suspend its flights beginning April 1.

“The immediate impact is that our income will be cut off due to the flight suspension. Some of the cabin crew have even applied for deferred loan repayments due to the decline in their income,” the crew member told The Jakarta Post on March 31, requesting anonymity.

“The cabin crew hope that they will still receive their basic salary to support their lives as they navigate through this difficult time,” she said. Meanwhile, a Garuda Indonesia cabin attendant, Lia (not her real name), said that the pandemic made her and her colleagues worry about lost income. She also said many employees were worried about job security.

“Although there are no layoffs [for permanent employees], contract workers are quite worried about their work contracts not being extended,” she said.

Zaenal Muttaqin, the head of the Garuda Indonesia Cabin Crew Union (IKAGI), acknowledged that reduction in flight frequency had resulted in less income for cabin crew.

“Flight cuts will automatically decrease our flight hours and our extra income, which is based on flight hours. With many flights canceled, the remaining flights operating must be divided among the 3,500 cabin crew members of Garuda. This has caused a decline in the flight hours of each crew member,” said Zaenal.

“Our friends in the field also feel insecure about their health, as they are at high risk [of getting the disease], even though they are equipped with masks and gloves. We are worried, and we hope the way we do our jobs when serving passengers can be simplified and minimize direct contact,” he said.

Zaenal said that the company had introduced a policy that effectively prevented those aged 50 years and above from working, who had been placed low on the priority list for cabin crew rotations for reasons of health and safety. Furthermore, he said contract workers were worried about whether Garuda would even consider extending their contracts once the coronavirus was brought under control.

Garuda reported that it had cut its flight frequency by around 40 percent. Garuda president director Irfan Setiaputra said that, as of Friday, there were no plans to lay off employees.

“As of now, there is no layoff plan, but there are many things that must be looked at,” he said.

Although Garuda’s employees face no imminent layoffs, many employees of its subsidiaries have lost their jobs. PT Aerofood Indonesia, which operates an airline catering service, laid off 359 outsourced employees after its business was hit hard by a drop in domestic flights, tempo.co reported.

The Indonesia National Air Carrier Association (INACA) reported that a drastic decline in airline passengers had forced airlines to cut flight frequencies by 50 percent or more. INACA chairman Denon Prawiratmadja said that several airlines had also suspended operations and terminated employees to reduce financial losses.

Lion Air has reduced or suspended flights to several destinations in China, Malaysia and Papua. The airline’s spokesperson, Danang Mandala Prihantoro, declined to comment when asked about the impact of the flight cuts on Lion Air employees.

Denon said that the crisis would worsen and could lead to more job cuts without government incentives or assistance.

“If COVID-19 cannot be contained immediately, business will worsen and some airlines could be forced to stop operating,” the INACA chairman said in an official statement.

Denon said the industry needed help in the form of fiscal incentives, such as the postponement of corporate income tax payments and exemptions from spare part import duties, as well as government stimulus through discounts on several fees, to keep the industry alive.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) projected that the impact of COVID-19 on the travel industry would be severe. In its latest analysis published last week, IATA projected that full-year demand for passenger air travel would fall 38 percent globally. It also stated that full-year passenger revenues would drop an estimated US$252 billion, 44 percent below 2019 figures.