Cabin crew will take seven days of unpaid leave every two months starting in May and discussions about a similar scheme for pilots will be held with their association, SIA said.

SIA, one of the world's most profitable airlines before the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) shook the regional aviation industry, said its flight capacity has now been reduced by almost 29 percent.

Services to Chicago, Las Vegas, Kaohsiung in Taiwan, Hiroshima in Japan and Mauritius have now been terminated.

Services to Fukuoka in Japan and Jeddah in Saudi Arabia will be "temporarily suspended" from May 8 and May 15 respectively, while the launch of services to Bangalore in India has again been deferred, with no new date decided.

SIA's regional subsidiary SilkAir has already retrenched eight pilots but SIA has vowed to keep layoffs as a last resort.

"There is no disguising the surplus in crew members following a substantial reduction in the flight schedules, but it is heartening that we were able to discuss this problem together and reach an agreement on this latest measure," SIA Senior Vice President Sim Kay Wee said of the unpaid leave.

He said the number of leave days will be reviewed and may have to be increased in line with further capacity cuts, but any changes would have to be discussed with union leaders.

The SARS epidemic has crippled the aviation and related industries in East Asia after tourists cancelled trips to and within the region.

The most badly affected countries are China -- until recently the most promising source of tourists for Singapore -- as well as Hong Kong, Singapore and Canada.

SIA also blamed the Iraq war and slowing global economy for the capacity cuts.

SIA said that earlier this month, cabin crew voluntarily offered to take unpaid leave but this did not reduce surplus crew members significantly.

In another development, Qantas Airways Ltd. chief executive Geoff Dixon said the Australian carrier hopes to restore flight capacity to normal within 12 months if the SARS situation continues to improve.

Bookings have been "mildly going up but generally it's still very, very flat," he told reporters during a visit to Singapore's Changi Airport to check thermal scanners used to monitor passengers for fever, a symptom of SARS.

Qantas has cut capacity by about 20 percent after passenger volumes plunged due to the US-led war in Iraq and the SARS outbreak.

Dixon said the Australian carrier will "make a decision in the next three to four weeks on what our flying patterns will be in the next 18 months," but they can only make guesses on how long the SARS outbreak will last.

"But the news is getting a little bit better, I think. And provided that continues, I am hoping we'll get back to normal flying patterns probably within 12 months," the Qantas chief said.

The World Health Organization has said that the outbreak has come under control in Vietnam and may have peaked in Singapore, Hong Kong and Canada, but not in China.

Dixon said no decision has yet been made to defer plane orders "but there has to be an option for us."

"The truth is that the airline industry is in a very, very serious situation as is the tourism industry as a result of what is going on," he said.

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