It was reported that AirAsia Bhd may lay off more that 300 employees to cut down its operations costs following the situation it faced due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The lay off, which was said to have been announced by chief executive officer Riad Asmat during an internal briefing session this afternoon, is expected to involve 111 of 1,900 cabin crew members, 172 pilots and 50 engineers.

“Everyone involved in the job cuts will be notified by email within 24 hours. AirAsia also promises compensation to all involved,” the report said.

This comes on the back of IATA publishing a report that the airline industry was down by 94% during the lockdown only to see a slight recovery in the past weeks.

Riad was quoted as saying that as there were no options to ensure that the low-cost carrier continued to operate like before, the restructuring of the organisation was seen as a viable alternative at present due to the difficult situation.

The report also stated that long-haul budget carrier AirAsia X would also reduce its workforce, including foreign employees.

As of now no actual number of employees involved has been announced and the proposed job cuts will affect various sectors of the workforce, including management, operations, crew and pilots.