KUALA LUMPUR: Once a week, Captain Izzat Hakimi Izham Nawi flies commercial passenger plane to domestic locations and on other days, drives a lorry transporting furniture throughout the country.
The 30-year-old has been juggling between the two jobs as his duty as a pilot was greatly reduced by 80 per cent due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
"My income was cut by up to 80 per cent as airline companies suffered since the pandemic struck.
"Before I took up the job as lorry 'pilot', I was devastated with what had happened but I decided to try my luck in another field," he said.
He even tried becoming a food delivery man but stopped after a week realising the work did not fit him.
Throughout his work as a food delivery man, there were three deaths reported involving other food delivery workers which worried him.
He then moved to become a furniture delivery man using a four wheel drive vehicle.
He was doing it alone but at times had to seek help from the customers as well to lift bigger sized furniture.
"One memorable moments is when I broke my fast on the road last Ramadhan month and worked till 4am," said the man from Shah Alam, Selangor.
The new venture by the father of three has picked up and he managed to purchase a three ton lorry for his furniture delivery service.
This enables him to move more furniture.
"Now I am helped by five friends, some of whom are still pilots while others have been retrenched.
"Though the salary is not the same as a pilots, it helps us to buy necessities for our kids and family," he said.
Though his routine has changed, where he spends more time on the road and sometimes returns home early in the mornings, he is grateful he able to take care of his family well.
"I never felt shy wearing t-shirts as a lorry driver. Some of my customers knew my previous work as a pilot and they are happy with what I am doing now," he said.
He is determined not to drop his lorry delivery services even if the airline industry recovers and wants his services, known as Pok Jak Transporter & Services to continue to prosper.