(Yicai Global) Feb. 18 -- Chinese airlines forced to rein in flight schedules due to the Covid-19 epidemic have come out with plans to deal with the downdraft and some top managers have even cut their own salaries or are working without pay, Yicai Global has learned.

Hainan Airlines operator HNA Group, which is still cash-strapped in the wake of an overseas property binge in past years, issued a statement saying it has postponed payments to senior management starting from last month that will continue until the epidemic's reverberations cease.

Other carriers under Hainan province-based HNA have also instituted rotating 'holidays' for pilots, flight attendants, crew, ground services, sales departments, administers and other staff who will not receive salaries during these furloughs, but will still get social security contributions, housing provident funds and other perks.

Air traveler numbers have plummeted since the end of last month, the latest statistics from the Civil Aviation Administration of China show. The daily headcount of 470,000 passengers between Jan. 25 and Feb. 14 was just a quarter that of the same time last year.

The nation's carriers have also begun to defer or shrink various costs and investment plans, in addition to trying to lower labor costs.

The downturn will not change in the short term, the CAAC added. The average number of passengers per day from Feb. 15 to 23 will not top 200,000, fewer than one-tenth that of peak periods, and with a passenger load factor of under 40 percent, it said.

The market, international routes above all, will recover in the short run if the disease dies down in places outside its hotbed of central Hubei province, civil aviation sector analyst Lin Zhijie told Yicai Global. But a complete recovery will depend on the epidemic's thorough elimination, he added. 

Upper-level managers at 9 Air under Shanghai-based Juneyao Airlines have slashed their monthly pay by 30 percent, and also called on those at departmental level to voluntarily apply for a 20 percent cut in their salaries and allowances to relieve operating pressures.  

Shanghai-based low-cost carrier Spring Airlines, which boasts both good performance and liquidity, has also put off paying its top brass. Most of its managers and those of its affiliated Shanghai Spring International Travel Service have applied in writing for 'zero salaries' from this month to the time when the virus outbreak ends and aviation services normalize.

Spring Airlines' executives also had 'zero salaries' for several months during the 2008 financial crisis, with these payments back-dated after the economy recovered, so this experience is nothing new for them.

Most employees with Air China, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines and other state-run carriers are drawing pay as usual, but how long this situation will last is, well, still up in the air.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Ben Armour