After Cathay Pacific (0293) announced its restructuring plan in October 2020, the entire group cut a total of 8,500 jobs, equivalent to 24% of its workforce.
With the easing of the epidemic, travel restrictions and epidemic prevention and quarantine measures have been gradually eased, Cathay Pacific has re-hired new staff since last year, including restarting the trainee pilot training program, inviting old employees to "return to the nest", and making up for the positions that were cut. Prepare for flight.
Cathay Pacific Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Tang Jianrong said bluntly in an interview with "Hong Kong 01" and other media that although Hong Kong's aviation industry has not ushered in a real recovery, if there is no additional recruitment, Cathay Pacific will lag behind its peers when it truly recovers.
He revealed Cathay Pacific's recruitment target. The group will resume hiring from 2021. It is planned that by the end of 2023, Cathay Pacific will employ about 4,000 additional people, including 700 pilots, about 2,000 flight attendants, and other airport and customer services. frontline employees.
Together with other Cathay Pacific subsidiaries, a total of 8,000 additional employees are expected, and the number of employees will be similar to that before the restructuring.
Cathay Pacific recently sent out emails to its departing flight attendants, inviting them to apply for a "nest return" to fly again.
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The "Return to the Nest" program has received a positive response
Recently, Cathay Pacific sent out emails to flight attendants who had left their jobs, inviting them to apply for "return to the nest" and fly to the sky again.
Deng Jianrong revealed that the "Return to the Nest" plan has been well received, and many former employees have expressed interest and submitted applications to the company, but relevant applications are still being processed.
When asked whether a more favorable salary structure would be given to recruit more staff, Deng Jianrong emphasized that Cathay Pacific's aim has always been to give its employees competitive salaries. There is no doubt in this regard. If the salary is not competitive enough, it will be difficult to attract talents.
As for the new salary structure introduced at the time of the reorganization, it has been used until now. Deng emphasized that the new structure is "more pay for more work", and the previous condition of "flying or not flying is a lot of money" is no longer appropriate.
Cathay Pacific chief executive Deng Jianrong said that Cathay Pacific will definitely pay a preferential dividend to the government, depending on when the financial situation improves.
(Photo by Luo Junhao)
However, the aviation industry in Hong Kong has not yet fully recovered, and is now "preemptively" recruiting a large number of people. Regarding Cathay Pacific's "burning money" situation, Deng Jianrong revealed that the cash consumption at the beginning of the year has been maintained at 1 billion to 1.5 billion yuan per month. More flights resumed in April, and the average cash consumption is expected to be less than 500 million yuan from May. It is believed that with Cathay Pacific vigorously increasing the number of flights, the relevant figures will be helpful.
Cathay Pacific: Will definitely pay preferential dividend to the government
The Hong Kong government announced last week that it had agreed to extend the drawdown period of Cathay Pacific's 7.8 billion bridge loan facility for another 12 months until June 8 next year.
Deng Jianrong said that Cathay Pacific has been managing cash carefully and prudently, and the company has twice extended the drawable period of the bridge loan, which is a responsible decision for shareholders and the government. manage.
However, in response to Cathay Pacific's three delays in the payment of preferential dividends to the government, Tang Jianrong emphasized that "it will definitely be distributed". However, since the aviation industry in Hong Kong has not recovered, if Cathay Pacific's business and finances improve, the dividends will be distributed step by step.
He reiterated that Cathay Pacific can choose to delay the payment of dividends, but it will incur certain interest expenses, emphasizing that this option allows Cathay Pacific to be more flexible.
And Cathay Pacific's plan is to definitely distribute dividends, "only to see when the business will allow it."
Refuting the claim that Hong Kong has disappeared from the aviation map Cathay Pacific CEO Deng Jianrong: customs clearance is the general direction Cathay Pacific's passenger numbers in May increased by 1.41 times year-on-year, and it is expected to record a major comprehensive loss in the first half of the year recovery