Singapore Airlines is asking its captains to volunteer for leave nearly a year after the company made a similar offer to its first officers.
The airline has also frozen its intake of cadet pilots.
"Singapore Airlines (SIA) began offering voluntary no-pay leave to first officers in March last year and subsequently to captains who expressed interest," said a company spokesman in an emailed statement to AFP.
SIA has "a temporary surplus of pilots and are managing it through this scheme, which is entirely voluntary", the spokesman said.
SIA has more than 2400 pilots.
The global financial crisis had led to excess capacity and slower growth than SIA anticipated, the airline said.
