EVA Airways Corp's (
"Layoffs and pay cuts stop here," said Kitty Yen (
According to senior executives, EVA has laid off around 800 employees and planned to cut salaries by up to 30 percent in the wake of the global downturn which was compounded by last September's terrorist attacks on the US, leaving it with staff numbering around 4,400.
"The pay-cut measure is only temporary and as the economy picks up we will be very dynamic in reconsidering salaries," Yen said.
Yen expects to see a sales increase of around 10 percent this year, for revenue of NT$57.7 billion, up from NT$52 billion forecast last year.
Yen says she is strongly focused on boosting revenue by remaining "flexible to cope with a changing market."
EVA had a net loss of NT$3.2 billion last year compared with a profit of NT$2.5 billion in 2000. Revenue from cargo accounted for around 45 percent of the total while passenger traffic accounted for the remainder.
However, another senior EVA executive said the company is planning to convert the bulk of its remaining three passenger MD-11s to freighters, joining the current fleet of eight MD-11F cargo planes.
"Our goal is to have 60 percent of our revenue coming from cargo and 40 percent from passenger traffic with eight years," the executive said.
Yen said she has the full support of her colleagues in her new role as president of the airline.
Yen joined the Evergreen Group (長榮集團) in 1975 and has served as personal secretary to founder and chairman of the group Chang Yung-fa (張榮發). She also served as vice president of the airline and president of Evergreen Sky Catering Corp (長榮空廚).
Comparisons to Christine Tsung (宗才怡), the female president of EVA's arch rival China Airlines Co (華航), have been splashed across the media since the company announced the reshuffle last month.
Yen yesterday shrugged off such comparisons saying there wouldn't be as much attention if the two company heads were men.
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