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SINGAPORE: Barely a week ago, Captain Budi Soehardi was busy looking for a job with other airlines – the pilot's contract with Singapore Airlines was expiring on Nov 11, and it was not going to be renewed.
But SIA has thrown a lifeline to him – and to the 51 young lives that depend on him.
The Indonesian expatriate, 57, who was named last month as one of CNN's Top 10 Heroes of 2009, is one of an undisclosed number of captains who has gotten a contract extension.
Mr Budi was already moving house – it was the only way he would have been able to keep his West Timor orphanage afloat in the long term without a job.
About 80 per cent of the US$6,000 ($8,312) needed monthly to care for the orphanage's 48 children comes solely from the pocket of the father of three.
His redundancy was typical of cost-cutting measures in a recession – SIA had to "significantly reduce capacity" earlier this year, leading to "excess staff resources" and employees having to "make sacrifices through salary reductions", such as a shorter work month.
For cockpit crew, there were plans "not to extend the contracts of any of our captains employed under contract arrangements this financial year, and they were made aware of this".
However an SIA spokesperson said when contacted by MediaCorp, that "based on our latest operating plan, we're pleased to be able to offer contract extensions to some of our captains".
Air Line Pilots Association-Singapore president P James welcomed the news. "It's good that the company was willing to change their policy. At least, there's light at the end of the tunnel," he said.
While Mr Budi was not mentioned by name in SIA's reply, a fellow pilot who did not want to be named let on that a group of pilots had petitioned the company to consider his renewal.
"He's a valuable employee of the company – his suggestions and research for different airways to Europe saved the airline a million-plus dollars annually," said the colleague.
Mr Budi's contract has been renewed for another three years. MediaCorp understands that there were up to 1,000 signatories for the pilot who could end the year on another bright note if he is named CNN's Hero of 2009.
He could not be reached as he was travelling, but he wrote this about his "CNN classmates" on his blog on Friday: "We are not competing but we are partners to make the human race to be living as a normal human being."
- TODAY/so
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