Photo/Illutration All Nippon Airways Co.’s aircraft at Haneda Airport in Tokyo in August (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

All Nippon Airways Co. (ANA), hit hard by the novel coronavirus pandemic, plans to slash base salaries, withhold winter bonuses and reduce its workforce through voluntary retirement packages.

The airline submitted the plan to its labor union on Oct. 7, sources said.

ANA had already reduced the size of its summer bonuses, so employees’ annual salaries would decrease by about 30 percent on average if the latest measures are taken.

The reduction rate of the base salaries and the number targeted for voluntary retirement have not been disclosed.

The COVID-19 pandemic led to a year-on-year decrease of 89.8 percent in ANA group passenger numbers for domestic flights between April and June and a plunge of 96.3 percent for international flights.

For that quarter, ANA’s holding company posted its biggest-ever net loss of 108.8 billion yen ($1 billion).

ANA had offered summer and winter bonuses equal to six months of salary in fiscal 2018.

But as its financial situation worsened because of the virus, ANA reduced the summer bonus to one month worth of salary.

ANA proposed the further reductions to the union because it could not predict when the pandemic will be contained. The airline said it will not seek voluntary retirement among its pilots.

ANA has 15,000 employees. It plans to propose similar measures to reduce personnel costs for 33,000 other employees in its corporate group.

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