Rolls-Royce to cut 240 roles in Singapore due to Covid-19 impact

Nisha Ramchandani

Published Thu, Jul 9, 2020 · 11:07 AM

UK-BASED jet engine-maker Rolls-Royce will cut 24 per cent of its workforce in Singapore as the commercial aerospace market reels from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Amid depressed demand for civil aerospace engines and after-market services, around 240 - mostly technical - roles will be affected, starting from mid-August, as part of a global restructuring, the company told The Business Times. Rolls-Royce employs about 1,000 people in Singapore, where it manufactures fan blades and carries out the assembly and testing of its engines at Seletar Aerospace Park. This excludes its maintenance, repair and overhaul joint venture with SIA Engineering Co, known as Singapore Aero Engine Services.

The lay-offs come after the engineering giant announced in May that it would slash at least 9,000 jobs worldwide, or over 17 per cent of its global headcount, as it right-sized operations for the medium term. Airlines have been forced to ground their fleets as countries around the world shut their borders to arrest the spread of the virus, which has had a knock-on impact on the global aerospace industry.

Bicky Bhangu, president of Rolls-Royce for South-east Asia, the Pacific and South Korea, said: "The decision to remove jobs is never an easy one and is not an action that we take lightly. However, the impact of the pandemic on aviation worldwide and in Singapore is the most significant in history. We have to take swift action in order to secure the business for future generations." Demand in the commercial aerospace market will "take several years to return" to pre-Covid levels, he went on to say. To help its affected employees, Rolls-Royce has been working closely with the Singapore Industrial and Services Employees' Union and NTUC's Employment and Employability Institute (e2i) to extend support in areas such as job search, career coaching and employability training. It is also engaging other companies to try to match its affected staff with roles available in those organisations.