Cabin crew members can now continue their employment with Singapore Airlines (SIA) during and after pregnancy.
While they’re with child, air stewardesses will be able to apply for temporary ground positions.
After the baby is born, the crew members will be given up to 16 weeks of maternity leave before they resume flying for SIA again.
This is a significant change to the previous policy, where the airline would place air stewardesses on no-pay leave and then terminate their contracts after they gave birth.
The new regulations reportedly came into effect on 15 Jul earlier this year.
According to The Straits Times (ST), an SIA circular stated that cabin crew members can continue working for the airline while they’re pregnant.
Source: SIA on Facebook
They will be on no-pay leave but may apply for ground positions in the company.
This includes areas such as administrative work, handling passenger feedback and requests via e-mail, content creation, and event management.
Following the birth of their child, they will have up to 16 weeks of maternity leave. After that, SIA will automatically roster them to fly again.
If a crew member’s contract expires during her pregnancy, SIA will offer her a one-year contract renewal.
The circular added that the new policy went into effect on 15 Jul “to further support [their] cabin crew during and after their pregnancy”.
The change in regulation is markedly different from SIA’s previous practice of terminating air stewardesses’ contracts after having a child, ST reports.
Prior to the new policy, SIA would place an air stewardess on no-pay leave after she announced their pregnancy.
She would then have to leave the airline the day after submitting her child’s birth certificate.
During her pregnancy, she was also unable to apply for temporary ground positions.
To resume flying with the company, she would have to reapply for a position under a returning crew scheme, which did not guarantee re-employment.
In their circular, SIA said they will try their best to offer as many of these positions as possible to affected cabin crew members, allowing them to maintain their income.
Speaking to ST, they noted that expecting cabin crew members have been able to find ground positions without experiencing difficulties. However, they did not disclose how many are on the scheme at present.
The airline also did not clarify if new mums would be required to shed their baby weight before flying for SIA, simply stating that they will “maintain the same grooming standards for all cabin crew”.
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