Thai Airways executives take pay cut because of coronavirus

BANGKOK (Reuters) – Thailand’s national carrier announced salary cuts for management and other airlines lowered targets as travel slowed from the coronavirus outbreak and the number of cases in the country reached 40 on Wednesday.

Thai Airways Pcl (BK:) said senior management voluntarily reduced their salaries by 15% to 25% for six months beginning March in a bid to cut expenses amid reduction of passenger travel.

“Thai Airways has implemented measures such as reduction of operational expenses and delayed unnecessary investments,” said the airline president, Sumeth Damrongchaitham.

Senior management, including the president and vice presidents, would also reduce their transport allowances by 20% to 30%.

Thai health officials urged the public to refrain from traveling abroad and asked airlines to tone down promotions after two more patients tested positive for the virus following a trip to Japan, bringing the total number of cases in the country to 40.

“Even though tickets are cheap, it could be your last holiday,” Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul told reporters.

Last week, the Thai Airways reduced flights to major cities including those in China, Japan and South Korea.

Asia Aviation Pcl (BK:), the joint owner of the low-cost carrier Thai AirAsia, revised its target for 2020 to 20.5 million passengers, lower than the 22.15 million passengers it carried in 2019.

Disclaimer: Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. All CFDs (stocks, indexes, futures) and Forex prices are not provided by exchanges but rather by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual market price, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Therefore Fusion Media doesn`t bear any responsibility for any trading losses you might incur as a result of using this data.

Fusion Media or anyone involved with Fusion Media will not accept any liability for loss or damage as a result of reliance on the information including data, quotes, charts and buy/sell signals contained within this website. Please be fully informed regarding the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, it is one of the riskiest investment forms possible.