Pratt & Whitney Singapore lay off staff

Pratt & Whitney had three joint ventures with the Singapore Airlines Engineering Company. Photo by Benjamin Liew | AeroNewsX

American aerospace manufacturer Pratt & Whitney announced on Monday that the company will be laying off about 20% of their staff, as part of what the company called a workforce adjustment exercise, blaming the devastating repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic on the aviation industry.

"Due to the challenging economic situation as a result of the pandemic, Pratt and Whitney have had to adjust its workforce. This has been a difficult but necessary decision to continue the business and support the aviation industry in Singapore", the company announced.

Pratt & Whitney noted that forecasts indicate that it will take until 2023 at the earliest for the aviation industry to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and with the prolonged recovery timeline for the aviation industry, Pratt & Whitney companies have already implemented cost-containment measure which includes temporary salary reductions, shorter workweeks, cancellation of merit increases, freeze hiring and discretionary spending cuts.

Pratt & Whitney has at least four joint ventures in Singapore, three with the Singapore Airlines Engineering Company (SIAEC), and one with the ST Engineering Aerospace Unit. Pratt & Whitney also have their component solutions unit and a blade and turbine disc manufacturing facility in Singapore.

Pratt & Whitney says that retrenchment was taken as a last resort, and the company is working with the Singapore Industrial and Services Employees Union (SISEU) and the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) of Singapore on the cost measures it was taking. All parties involved have collaborated to ensure that the exercise is carried out openly, fairly, and responsibly.