Hong Kong airline Cathay Pacific asks 27,000 staff to take unpaid leave
Hong Kong, Feb 5: Hong Kong's flagship carrier Cathay Pacific is asking its entire workforce to take up to three weeks of unpaid leave, its CEO announced Wednesday, as the airline faces a crisis in the wake of the new coronavirus outbreak.
The request lays bare desperate times at Cathay, which was hammered last year by months of political chaos and protests in Hong Kong and is now being further hurt by the fallout from the virus outbreak.
In a video message to the company's 27,000 employees, airline boss Augustus Tang said they were being asked to take up to three weeks leave with no pay between March and June.
"I am hoping all of you will participate, from our frontline employees to our senior leaders, and share in our current challenges," he said.
The coronavirus, which was first detected in the central Chinese city of Wuhan late last year, spread over the Lunar New Year holiday, which would normally be one of the busiest times for regional airlines.
Instead, dozens of international carriers have reduced or suspended flights to China in a bid to halt the pathogen's spread and as passenger numbers fall off a cliff.
Tang warned Cathay was experiencing "one of the most difficult Chinese New Year holidays we have ever had" because of the virus.
"And we don't know how long it will last," he added. "With such an uncertain outlook, preserving our cash is now the key to protecting our business."
He announced a series of measures to tackle the crisis, including asking staff to voluntarily take unpaid leave.
"I realise this is difficult to hear, and we may need to take further steps ahead, but by supporting the special leave scheme you will be helping at our time of need," he told staff.
He also asked suppliers to reduce their prices, and said the airline would make short-term adjustments to its capacity -- including an already announced move to cut flights 30 per cent worldwide for two months, including a 90 per cent cut to mainland China.
The last time Cathay asked staff to take unpaid leave was in 2009 in the wake of the global financial crash.
"The situation now is just as grave," Tang said.
Hong Kong's economy is currently in recession, battered by the US-China trade war, the protests and the virus outbreak have hit the tourism and entertainment industries especially hard.
So far 18 people have tested positive for the virus, one of whom died on Tuesday.
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Woman's decomposed body found at rented flat in Bengaluru
Bengaluru (PTI): The body of a 34-year-old woman was found in a decomposed condition at her rented flat in Bengaluru, police said on Tuesday.
The deceased was identified as Pooja Dutta, a native of Dhanbad in Jharkhand, who was employed with a private company here, they said.
The incident in Adugodi came to light on Monday after neighbours alerted police about a foul smell emanating from her flat, police added.
Police said a team reached the spot, broke open the door and found Dutta's body in a nude and decomposed state, lying in a pool of blood. Preliminary suspicion is that the death may have occurred two to three days earlier, they said.
According to police, no death note was recovered from the spot, though torn papers were found scattered inside the house, prompting suspicion that she may have died by suicide after locking the door from inside.
The body has been sent for post-mortem examination to ascertain the exact cause of death. Once the autopsy report is received, it will be confirmed if it was a suicide or a murder, a senior police officer said, adding that all angles are being probed.
According to the landlady, Dutta had been living in the rented flat for the past three years and was last seen on April 23 when she went out to buy groceries.
The Adugodi police have registered a case of unnatural death, and further investigation is underway.
