400 MAS Bhd Pilots to be Seconded to Other Airlines

17th Jul 2015

Some 400 pilots of the new Malaysia Airlines Bhd carrier may not be continuing their work with MAS despite not being among the 6,000 staff members whose contracts were terminated as a part of the company’s restructuring programme.

According to some reports, MAS Bhd pilots were emailed by the airline yesterday and were informed that a secondment exercise could be on horizon.

The secondment could involve as much as 400 pilots of Malaysia Airlines Bhd.

All of this, of course, is a part of the restructuring exercise which started last year. The Malaysian carrier has already cut several routes that were not yielding enough revenue and also suspended flights on some.

Qatar, China, South Korea or Saudi Arabia Airlines as Options

The pilots who end up being sent to other airlines will likely continue their careers at Malaysia Airlines partner airlines in Qatar, China, Korea or Saudi Arabia.

The pilots would then return to Malaysia Airlines, but at the moment, the carrier is looking to be sustainable, which includes a smaller crew. Once MAS Bhd achieves this, the pilots will return to their old company.

Malaysia Airlines pilots generally didn’t feel much of the big job cut, which saw 6,000 out of 20,000 employees being sacked. Only 25 pilot contracts were terminated out of a total 1,466 flying for MAS.

Many of the pilots were not happy with the news. One of them said:

We were given hope that we would stay in the new company and work from here. Why give hope and then dash it. Now, if the pilots don’t accept the secondment, and opt to leave, there is no compensation to be paid.

Malaysia Airlines Extends A380 Service for Paris for another Month

As part of reducing its international services, Malaysia Airlines has switched to smaller jets on several international routes.

One of those services was supposed to be the KLIA to Charles de Gaulle International Airport in Paris, France. This route was to be operated by a Boeing B777-200ER from 4^th August. However, the carrier decided to continue flying with Airbus A380s on it.

MAS will fly from Kuala Lumpur to Paris and back on 17/18^th, 18/19^th. 21/22^nd and 29/30^th August.