SOME 20,000 employees of our national airline got their much-awaited or dreaded letter this week. I have seen the letter and overall I think it is a fair deal. All employees terminated (including those offered reemployment) will get termination benefits in accordance with the relevant labour laws or up to 0.55 times monthly salary per year of service. Those who are not offered will get up to 1.5 months of salary for each year of service. This is in accordance with the collective agreement (CA) and market practice.

It has taken years of doldrums, underperformance, poor management and two very unfortunate major air disasters to finally push for the complete overhaul of the national airline.