Singapore - Singapore Airlines said Wednesday that 1,405 of its employees volunteered to take unpaid leave but it was not enough to steer the airline through the current tough times.

"We have approved 1,405 applications from staff for voluntary no-pay leave during the financial year which begins today," a company spokesman said Wednesday. "The vast majority of these come from cabin crew and are also for periods of less than one month."

The staffing reductions would help meet cuts in flights, but other measures would be required, the official said.

The airline is pursuing proposals for a shorter work month for all staff, details of which are to be announced soon.

Singapore Airlines said it has reached agreements in principle with two of its key unions, the Singapore Airlines Staff Union and the Airline Executive Staff Union, for shorter work months from May 1.

Senior management was already on the scheme while discussions were ongoing with the pilots union.

Even with all these measures in place, the airline said it could not rule out further actions to contain costs if the economic downturn and travel slump worsens.

The steps taken so far were necessary because of plans to cut capacity - measured in terms of the number of seats available and total distance flown - by 11 per cent over the next 12 months.

Singapore Airlines plans also to take 17 aircraft from its fleet of more than 100 planes out of service for at least a year.

It carried 1.18 million passengers in February, down 20.2 per cent from the same month a year earlier.

Cargo volumes also slipped by 16.9 per cent to just below 80 million kilograms with Singapore Airlines filling 56.7 per cent of available freight space. (dpa)