All Nippon Airways' employees allowed to carry out side jobs during the pandemic

Report by : Gan Yung Chyan, KUCINTA SETIA 

According to Japan's "Asahi Shimbun" report on 9 October 2020, All Nippon Airways will allow all employees to use their spare time to carry out side jobs, not only to engage in self-employed businesses such as tutoring, but also to sign labor contracts with other companies to engage in part-time and short-term jobs.

Affected by the pandemic, aviation demand has fallen sharply. In the second quarter, ANA lost 108.8 billion Yen, and employee income was cut by about one third. All Nippon Airways has previously allowed employees to engage in self-employed businesses such as tutoring in their spare time, but it has not achieved significant results.

In order to help employees increase their income and improve their skills, ANA’s new program will allow employees to sign labor contracts with other companies to engage in part-time and short-term jobs, and apply to all 15,000 employees including pilots and flight attendants. The plan is expected to be implemented from 2021, and other companies in the All Nippon Airways Group will also consider implementing similar plans.

According to the Yomiuri Shimbun’s earlier report, in order to use idle aircraft to make up for the sharp decline in revenue, All Nippon Airways launched the "Air Circling Tour" project in September. Passengers took the world’s largest double-decker Airbus A380 from Narita. Departing from the airport, passengers passed over tourist spots such as Mount Fuji, Nagoya, Miyake Island, and returned to Narita in 90 minutes. Surprisingly, related air tickets quickly sold out and became a popular item in Japan during the four consecutive holidays.