Singapore Airlines Group is to cut about 4,300 roles across its airlines in Singapore and overseas.
The redundancies will affect about 2,400 staff once a recruitment freeze, voluntary redundancies and natural attrition are taken into account, the company said.
SIA has previously said it expects to operate under 50% of its capacity at the end of financial year 2020/21 versus pre-Covid levels. The group operates Singapore Airlines, SilkAir and Scoot.
In a statement, it said: “Relative to most major airlines in the world, the SIA Group is in an even more vulnerable position as it does not have a domestic market that will be the first to see a recovery.
“In order to remain viable in this uncertain landscape, the group’s airlines will operate a smaller fleet for a reduced network compared to their pre-Covid operations in the coming years.”
Goh Choon Phong, Singapore Airlines chief executive, said: “When the battle against Covid-19 began early this year, none of us could have predicted its devastating impact on the global aviation industry. From the outset, our priorities were to ensure our survival and save as many jobs as possible. Given that the road to recovery will be long and fraught with uncertainty, we have to unfortunately implement involuntary staff reduction measures.
“Having to let go of our valuable and dedicated people is the hardest and most agonising decision that I have had to make in my 30 years with SIA. This is not a reflection of the strengths and capabilities of those who will be affected but the result of an unprecedented global crisis that has engulfed the airline industry.”