In a statement today, the airline detailed the disbursements it has made to its staff so far, including RM1,267,200 in mid-May and RM1,486,800 in late June under the Employment Retention Programme (ERP).

After the ERP was discontinued and replaced with the Wage Subsidy Programme, a further RM235,200 was received by the airline and distributed to the staff members, it said.

It said all staff members who were paid were retained for more than three months according to the rules governing both schemes.

Malindo Air CEO Mushafiz Mustafa Bakri said revenue since March was just 7.5% of pre-pandemic levels, “which has had a crippling effect on our finances”.

“How do you continue to maintain status quo eight months and still counting, when there is barely any revenue or meaningful support of any kind?” he said.

To save costs, Malindo halved its fleet by transferring 20 aircraft and carrying out a voluntary separation scheme for 349 staff members as well as a long-term unpaid scheme for a further 439.

However, it was reported to have retrenched 1,861 staff members, with no immediate plans to resume operations.

The airline said it is working closely with Human Resources Minister M Saravanan, Industrial Relations Department director-general Khalid Jali, the Labour Department, Socso and the Human Resources Development Fund to assist displaced staff in being retrained and reskilled.