SINGAPORE — Every month in his 15-year career as a Singapore Airlines (SIA) cabin crew, Mr Alvin Ee Kwong Beng would spend around two intense weeks attending to passengers in the air.

That is, until the Covid-19 outbreak halted nearly all flights and put his aviation career on indefinite hold.

Instead of serving drinks and smiling incessantly at weary passengers, Mr Ee, 42, a leading steward, now finds himself helping out the airline’s increasingly overstretched social media team, tagging complaints and compliments he finds on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for the team’s attention.

It is not exactly what he signed up for, but with Singapore’s aviation industry decimated by the pandemic that has grounded 96 per cent of all SIA flights, he and more than 2,000 of his colleagues are finding fresh purpose staffing other positions within the company, volunteering for non-flight roles such as manning customer services counters and call centres.

“When I started seeing my rosters being emptied and my flights being cancelled, at first I thought that now I am able to relax and spend some time with my family. After a while, I started thinking ‘do I really want to stay at home? How many Netflix (films) can I watch?’” he said, describing the anxieties he has felt amid the global aviation crisis due to Covid-19.

Others, like Mr Nizam Salleh, 40, a duty manager at aviation services company Sats, may soon find themselves aiding the national effort against the disease by being redeployed to public hospitals or helping to trace contacts of Covid-19 cases.

SIA also has such a programme for its idle flight staff, with a newly launched employee support portal that allows staff to volunteer for roles in the national Covid-19 fight, while still drawing their basic salaries from the airline.

It has also waived an exclusivity clause contained in the employment contracts of all staff so that they may seek an alternative source of income, but still remain an employee of the airline.

All these steps are what Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat called “creative thinking” in comments he made to the local media after a visit to Changi Airport on Monday (March 30).

Not only are aviation workers like Mr Nizam and Mr Ee being deployed into roles beyond their job scope, many were also using the downtime to embark on skills training.

Some aviation workers are also enrolled into the SG Clean effort, Mr Heng said, working in hawker centres near their homes to raise the standard of personal hygiene in Singapore’s battle against the disease.

“I am glad to see that our people are responding well, and I am also glad to see that the morale of the staff remains high that they are taking this challenge in their stride and thinking about how they can make the best use of their downtime to learn new skills, to upgrade themselves and to support others,” he said.

Mr Heng, who is also Finance Minister, last week announced a landmark S$48 billion second stimulus package that was geared towards saving jobs and safeguarding businesses.

This year, around S$750 million will go to an enhanced aviation support package, out of which more than S$400 million will finance a jobs scheme to pay for 75 per cent of the first S$4,600 of every aviation worker’s monthly wages.

The Resilience Budget is due to be debated in Parliament next week, and Mr Heng did not rule out the possibility of a third stimulus package if the Covid-19 situation deteriorates.

Said Mr Heng in an interview with local media: “I will say that at this point, I would like to assure Singaporeans that we have the resources to do that if we need to… For now, let’s concentrate on making the best use for our Resilience Package. It is a substantial package and one reason why I am here is to look at how the aviation industry is making use of this package.”

'HOPING FOR BEST, PLANNING FOR WORST': DPM

But during the two-hour-long tour on Monday, the focus was about what is next for the embattled industry since the pandemic could be a longer one than previously anticipated; Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said on Sunday that it could take years for the virus to run its course.

As Mr Heng, along with Senior Minister of State for Transport and Health Lam Pin Min, walked around a largely empty Changi Airport to meet affected flight crews, airport staff and other aviation workers, they also met up with some of the head honchos of the aviation industry from SIA, Sats, Changi Airport Group, the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore and the Ministry of Transport.

In the 15-minute meeting with various aviation industry chief executive officers, several mooted ideas — covering plans in research and development, staff training and job redesign — for an aviation industry amid a worsening storm. Mr Heng did not say what these ideas were, stating that it is still too premature to finalise them.

He said: “We will have to hope for the best, but we will need to plan for the worst. And I am glad that even as we are fighting this current war, we are thinking about what is next.”

He added that the approach is not just about financial resources. “It is really about the resilience and creativity of our people... this is the time to harness all the good ideas.”