Nearly a third of Malaysia Airlines’ staff are set to be laid off next month as the troubled carrier begins its quest to return to profit.
Letters will be sent to 20,000 staff in the next few weeks, either giving them notice or asking them to accept new terms and conditions, effectively under a new employer. The airline, which is still reeling from the two disasters of 2014, including the unsolved loss of flight MH370, intends to slash 6,000 staff from its workforce.
Sending out redundancy notices and new contracts has been one of the first actions of new chief executive Christoph Mueller. Mueller joined from Aer Lingus, which he successfully brought back into profit in around three years. Changes may even include a rebranding of the airline.
According to the Malaysia Star, in an email to staff, Mueller said: “We have benchmarked our current terms and conditions with those of our competitors and will come up with new contract conditions. Some will be below the current levels, but some others will have some improvements”.