DPM Heng glad aviation workers are taking challenges in their stride
He praises employees in the sector for making the best use of the downtime during a visit to Changi Airport
Just two months ago, a typical weekday evening would see the departure hall of Changi Airport Terminal 3 packed with travellers.
But when Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat visited the place at about 4pm yesterday, only a handful of airport employees were manning the counters.
Mr Heng, who is also Finance Minister, said he was glad to hear from employers that the Jobs Support Scheme has helped them retain workers and look into restructuring their operations to be more efficient and cater to more customers when the economy recovers.
He was speaking to reporters after a two-hour visit to see how businesses and workers were coping as the Covid-19 pandemic brings the aviation sector to a near standstill.
REDEPLOYED
He noted that many employees have been redeployed to other roles in the sector, with some doing voluntary work like being ambassadors for the SG Clean programme, and praised them for their resilience.
"I am glad to see that the morale of the staff remains high. They are taking this challenge in their stride and thinking about how they can make the best use of this downtime, to learn new skills to upgrade themselves to support others," he said.
"I hope that when the recovery takes place, when we are able to fly again, that our staff will be even better than before."
Mr Heng's visit comes days after he announced the $48.4 billion supplementary budget, dubbed the Resilience Budget, to address the economic fallout from the coronavirus outbreak which has hit the aviation and tourism sectors hard.
More than $400 million has been set aside for an enhanced Jobs Support Scheme to offset up to 75 per cent of the first $4,600 of wages for local workers, and $350 million will go to various rebates to help reduce business costs.
Mr Heng said that during his visit, both workers and employers suggested various ideas to help improve the situation, and the Government will look into these.
Asked whether Singapore Airlines - which has cut 96 per cent of its scheduled capacity up till the end of next month - could see retrenchments like during the Sars outbreak in 2003, Mr Heng said: "At the moment, the various industries, and certainly the aviation industry, is seeking to retain their workers as much as possible, and indeed, that is the Government's hope as well.
"I am confident that Singapore Airlines is continuing to look into this very carefully and that they will take very careful decisions on this."
Mr Heng also warned that the Covid-19 pandemic is expected to continue for some time.
He said it will likely take a few months before the world gets a clearer picture of how the outbreak would develop in the long term, which would in turn let Singapore decide on how to better address the issue going forward.
He outlined three possible scenarios.
One, a quick recovery which experts think is unlikely.
Two, where the situation is contained in parts of the world, and some activities can continue.
Three, a much broader pandemic that overwhelms healthcare systems, and global recovery becomes very difficult.
Said Mr Heng: "We will hope for the best, but we need to prepare for the worst."
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