Aviation staff struggle to get by while waiting for lift-off

 

A bustling travel hub just over a year ago, klia2 has become a ghost town, with just a handful of flights a day.

SEPANG: Aviation workers and those who rely on airport traffic have had to struggle on, watching as as the rest of the economy slowly reopened.

Manosh Sivadas, a ground operations manager at Kuala Lumpur International Airport said that nearly all the baggage handlers, check-in staff and arrival crew under his care had made huge sacrifices over the last year.

“Almost all have had to take on other jobs, as delivery riders for Grab, Foodpanda and things like that. We used to have around 700 ground staff working a day at KLIA, now it’s under 300,” he said. “Some left because of job cuts, some have been placed on no-pay leave. We have tried to rotate people every three months so everyone gets a chance to work.”

He said their current operating capacity is only a tenth of what it was before the pandemic. “Our goal is to retain as many jobs as we can, but if we don’t have any business there’s not a lot we can do.”

Manosh Sivadas said that “almost all” of the workers he manages have had to look for alternative ways to make money during the pandemic.

Mohd Nazir Tuah, a limousine driver who manages over 200 other airport shuttles, said his income had been cut in half with the lack of incoming tourists, and other drivers would have suffered similar losses.

“Now it’s really bad because people can’t travel interstate. Things were okay for a while around July when the borders were open and there was more movement.”

He said that he has accrued debts over the last year that he still has to cover, putting a full recovery for him some ways away.

AirAsia stewardess Victoria Yuyun always dreamt of flying as cabin crew but the past year has been closer to a nightmare as she’s had to live off a third of what she was previously making, relying on just her base salary without any of the flight allowances that made up the bulk of her pay.

Stewardess Victoria Yuyun said that not only has her pay taken a hit, but so has her career progression.

“I’ve been going through my savings, I applied for the i-Sinar withdrawal, I still have bills to pay and those haven’t gotten any cheaper. Altogether, between my pay and how much I’m spending, I’ve definitely been losing money every month.”

She said her hopes of becoming a senior cabin crew member last year have been dashed.

“I’ve been wanting to apply to be a senior cabin crew member, the person who runs the whole plane during the flight, but this has very much set me back. The way the airline business is at the moment, there aren’t any vacancies to try for.”

Amira Nuria Anua, a pilot with Firefly, said her pay has also suffered a sharp decline, close to 70%, in line with fewer hours in the air.

“I used to fly around 70 to 80 hours a month. Now, it’s closer to 10 or 15. We used to get around 20 hours back when interstate travel was allowed, but to get those hours now is like a blessing.”

To make matters worse, her husband lost his job as a pilot with Malindo in October, which has added additional pressure. - FMT