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Concern over SIA Cargo's hiring policy
Alpa-S members ask why company is employing 7 foreign pilots and not local ones
The hiring of seven foreign pilots by Singapore Airlines Cargo (SIA Cargo) has touched a nerve among members of the Air Line Pilots Association-Singapore (Alpa-S) and they have taken up the matter with the Ministry of Manpower.
The National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) has also been kept informed although Alpa-S is not an NTUC member.
Alpa-S feels that SIA Cargo, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Singapore Airlines, should be hiring locals instead. "There are enough pilots retired by SIA for them to pick from," an Alpa-S committee member told Today.
SIA retires its pilots once they turn 62 but the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore - following international convention - allows them to fly until the age of 65.
However, SIA pointed out that it did open the vacancies to all but the majority of applicants were foreigners. It confirmed that seven were offered jobs with the cargo division. Three have accepted the job offer, while replies from the other four are pending. Most of these pilots are said to be in their mid-fifties.
The national carrier also pointed out that the CAAS does not allow two captains above 60 to be at the controls of a plane.
"We have to be aware of such regulations when hiring," an SIA source said.
But the Alpa-S committee member contends that this is something that could easily be dealt with through proper rotation of duties as, at present, fewer than a dozen of the 240 pilots at SIA Cargo were above 60 years old.
"In any case, less than 10 per cent of our flights require us to have two captains on board. This happens only on long flights of more than 14 hours, for example to New York or Los Angeles," he explained. These days, most flights are crewed by a captain and a co-pilot, who is a first officer.
SIA Cargo's pilots are almost evenly split among captains and first officers.
Alpa-S also argues that hiring the retired pilots is cheaper than the foreign pilots as they have to restart at entry points. "With the foreign pilots, most of whom are employed on expatriate terms, SIA Cargo will have to pay for their housing as well as the schooling of their children," the committee member said.
He also said there were some cadet pilots who still have not found proper employment with SIA.
There were about two dozen of these cadets who had resigned as engineers and other well-paying jobs in the airline to undergo training as pilots. "Now they are just kept on hold and paid between $1,200 and $1,900 to stay at home. So, why not make use of these people?" he asked.
In response, SIA said it would take time for these persons to be flight-ready while the cargo division needed the pilots right now.
Airline traffic has picked up since the economic recovery. In March, a combination of a 4.2-per-cent cut in system-wide capacity and a 12-per-cent rise in traffic, measured in freight tonne kilometres, resulted in a 9.9 percentage point rise in SIA's load factor to 68.4 per cent. After reporting losses for the first half of its financial year, SIA is once again showing profits.
Alpa-S members ask why company is employing 7 foreign pilots and not local ones
The hiring of seven foreign pilots by Singapore Airlines Cargo (SIA Cargo) has touched a nerve among members of the Air Line Pilots Association-Singapore (Alpa-S) and they have taken up the matter with the Ministry of Manpower.
The National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) has also been kept informed although Alpa-S is not an NTUC member.
Alpa-S feels that SIA Cargo, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Singapore Airlines, should be hiring locals instead. "There are enough pilots retired by SIA for them to pick from," an Alpa-S committee member told Today.
SIA retires its pilots once they turn 62 but the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore - following international convention - allows them to fly until the age of 65.
However, SIA pointed out that it did open the vacancies to all but the majority of applicants were foreigners. It confirmed that seven were offered jobs with the cargo division. Three have accepted the job offer, while replies from the other four are pending. Most of these pilots are said to be in their mid-fifties.
The national carrier also pointed out that the CAAS does not allow two captains above 60 to be at the controls of a plane.
"We have to be aware of such regulations when hiring," an SIA source said.
But the Alpa-S committee member contends that this is something that could easily be dealt with through proper rotation of duties as, at present, fewer than a dozen of the 240 pilots at SIA Cargo were above 60 years old.
"In any case, less than 10 per cent of our flights require us to have two captains on board. This happens only on long flights of more than 14 hours, for example to New York or Los Angeles," he explained. These days, most flights are crewed by a captain and a co-pilot, who is a first officer.
SIA Cargo's pilots are almost evenly split among captains and first officers.
Alpa-S also argues that hiring the retired pilots is cheaper than the foreign pilots as they have to restart at entry points. "With the foreign pilots, most of whom are employed on expatriate terms, SIA Cargo will have to pay for their housing as well as the schooling of their children," the committee member said.
He also said there were some cadet pilots who still have not found proper employment with SIA.
There were about two dozen of these cadets who had resigned as engineers and other well-paying jobs in the airline to undergo training as pilots. "Now they are just kept on hold and paid between $1,200 and $1,900 to stay at home. So, why not make use of these people?" he asked.
In response, SIA said it would take time for these persons to be flight-ready while the cargo division needed the pilots right now.
Airline traffic has picked up since the economic recovery. In March, a combination of a 4.2-per-cent cut in system-wide capacity and a 12-per-cent rise in traffic, measured in freight tonne kilometres, resulted in a 9.9 percentage point rise in SIA's load factor to 68.4 per cent. After reporting losses for the first half of its financial year, SIA is once again showing profits.
