Asiana Airlines to extend unpaid leave of absence

With the coronavirus spread clipping the wings of the South Korean aviation industry, Asiana Airlines has decided to take stringent measures to further tighten its belt.

The air carrier has extended the unpaid leave of absence for all employees to 15 days at the least from April, compared to 10 days this month. This would leave it operating with half of the workforce for the time being.

Executives will also have their wages slashed by 60 percent, an additional 10 percent cut.

“We will take unprecedented self-rescue measures for survival in April following March,” the company said.

“Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, international routes have decreased by 85 percent based on available seats, and the reservation rate in April has plummeted 90 percent on-year. As the virus spread has left at least 70 percent of personnel idle, an unprecedented measure of expanding unpaid leave to all employees has been taken.”

Asiana also said it has cut salaries of its CEO, executives and heads of departments by 100 percent, 50 percent and 30 percent, respectively, in March.

By Kim Byung-wook (kbw@heraldcorp.com)