Coronavirus: in Singapore, aviation jobs are up for grabs as tourism in the city state rebounds
- Before Covid, air transport and spending by foreign tourists coming to Singapore by air was 11.8 per cent of the local economy and supported 375,000 jobs
- Job losses and pay cuts hit aviation workers hard, and many have switched to less volatile careers, resulting in a lack of manpower to handle the recovery
As border curbs and mandatory quarantines fall away, a fresh challenge is emerging for global aviation – rehiring staff fast enough to cope with a rebound in air travel that is already straining the industry.
Singapore, which has flung open its borders again hosted a two-day job fair over the weekend targeting everyone from graduates to mid-career professionals and former aviation workers who quit during the Covid crisis. Over 6,600 positions are available at the country’s airport, often voted the world’s best.
The task is to lure people to work in an industry that has been decimated by the virus. Job losses and pay cuts hit aviation workers hard, and many have taken up other, less volatile careers. That has resulted in a lack of manpower to properly handle the recovery. Sydney Airport has struggled with queues and flight disruptions, while staff shortages at London’s Heathrow Airport hurt the earnings of British Airways Plc parent IAG SA.
The country’s flag carrier, Singapore Airlines, is also ramping up its workforce as travel to one of Asia’s largest aviation hubs rebounds. The airline plans to hire about 2,000 cabin crew by March 2023, Straits Times reported, citing Chief Executive Officer Goh Choon Phong.
“People may be thinking twice about returning to such a cyclical industry, especially with economic growth concerns on the horizon,” said Jason Sum, an analyst at DBS Bank Ltd.
Career change
Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd., which saw its workforce shrink 37 per cent from a 2019 high to the end of 2021, sent out emails to hundreds of former cabin crew to gauge their interest in rejoining the company, according to a person familiar with the matter. It’s an uphill task for a carrier hit harder than most due to Hong Kong’s travel restrictions.
In its recently released 2021 sustainability report, Cathay said the number of permanent employees voluntarily leaving jumped to a record 17 per cent. Two-fifths of all departures were aged under 30, a sign that younger people may have concluded that aviation isn’t a viable career.
