The government recently relaxed quarantine measures, and the crew also took the lead in implementing "0+0". Cathay Pacific began to re-employ crew members after layoffs two years ago.
The Cathay Pacific Pilots Union (HKAOA) issued a statement today (6th) saying that Cathay Pacific is facing unprecedented staffing and training shortages. Compared with two years ago, the number of captains and co-pilots has dropped by 40%.
The union said the wave of departures stemmed from major layoffs when Cathay Pacific permanently cut salaries and benefits for pilots.
In the statement of the union, the senior captain was also quoted as criticizing that Cathay Pacific took advantage of the epidemic to significantly reduce salaries, making it difficult to live in Hong Kong.
The union pointed out that due to the shortage of manpower, the destination and frequency of Cathay Pacific flights will be reduced, which will bring inconvenience to the traveling public. Moreover, due to the reduced supply of air tickets and strong demand, it can be foreseen that air ticket prices will continue to rise.
The union continued to criticize that Cathay Pacific was not prepared to regain its leadership in international aviation. To restore its former glory, it would need to increase salaries to retain its existing staff and re-employ its departing pilots.
Cathay Pacific said it had hired about 300 more pilots since last summer, and that the salary terms for pilots were highly competitive in the market.
The company has also launched a comprehensive recruitment plan, aiming to hire more than 4,000 frontline employees, including an additional 700 pilots by the end of 2023, to meet the company's operational needs for the next 18 to 24 months.
▼Cathay Pacific layoffs on October 21, 2020▼
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The Cathay Pacific Pilots Union voluntarily issued a statement today, stating that before the big layoffs in October 2020, there were originally about 4,000 pilots, but now there are only about 2,500 remaining, among which the more senior ranks are Captain and First Officers. ) is further reduced by 40%.
The union pointed out that these pilots have decades of experience and are a treasure of Cathay Pacific, but they continue to leave, the turnover rate is unprecedentedly high, and there will be vacancies in the future.
Cathay Pacific manpower shortage documents reveal that there are 30% fewer pilots than before the epidemic, and the industry may need to go to Southeast Asia to grab pilots
Captain: The current treatment offered by Cathay Pacific is not competitive in the market
The union continued to point out that the wave of departures stemmed from the fact that when Cathay Pacific was laying off staff, the management unilaterally forcibly reduced the salaries of the pilots permanently, which made the pilots deeply dissatisfied.
One of the senior captains with 15,000 flying hours, who was afraid of being reckoned by the fall, criticized anonymously: "The Company made it clear this time that we were not part of the team. are not really part of the team)”.
He continued that during the epidemic, both employees and unions are willing to take unpaid leave and pay cuts to tide over the difficulties, but Cathay Pacific only sees the epidemic as an opportunity to permanently cut pay.
The captain added that Cathay Pacific thought it would cut costs, but this decision actually had a far-reaching impact, weakening Hong Kong's status as an aviation hub.
He said that the current treatment offered by Cathay Pacific is not competitive in the market, and it is impossible for a family to survive in Hong Kong (simply not competitive and make it impossible for a family to survive in Hong Kong).
▼The arrival level of the airport on the first day of the implementation of the entry quarantine "0+3" on September 26▼
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Unions: severing ties with pilot unions would be the costliest administrative blunder in Cathay's history
The press release also quoted another junior pilot as saying that Cathay Pacific decided to lay off staff and reduce salaries without negotiation, which affected a large number of senior employees.
He said his confidence in Cathay had been shaken and he was starting to consider whether he should still work at Cathay.
Union president Paul Weatherilt said that the role of senior pilots was one of the factors that made Cathay Pacific become the world's leading airline in the past. One of the costliest management errors in the history of Cathay Pacific.
▼On September 25, the airport quarantine hotel diversion station will operate on the last day▼
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Cathay Pacific has recently increased the training of pilots, but the union questioned that training is a long process, especially experience and safety are the keys to the aviation industry.
The union continued that some training courses have been shortened compared to before the epidemic, and they are worried that under the pressure of recruiting and training new people, the quality of Cathay's training will be affected.
The union believes that due to the shortage of manpower, the destination and frequency of Cathay Pacific flights will be reduced, which will bring inconvenience to the traveling public. Moreover, due to the reduced supply of air tickets and strong demand, it can be foreseen that air ticket prices will continue to rise.
The union continued that if Cathay Pacific wants to rebuild its reputation and hub status, the only way is to provide market-competitive remuneration packages to retain existing staff and rehire former employees.
Cathay Pacific: It has hired about 300 more pilots since last summer. The salary terms of the pilots are very competitive in the market.
Cathay Pacific stated that Cathay Pacific has sufficient and experienced aviation professionals to support current operations and continue to operate with the highest level of safety standards and provide customer service.
We will continue to rebuild the flight network connection between Hong Kong and the rest of the world as soon as possible. However, rebuilding flight capacity will take some time. We must make adequate preparations for operations, including arranging training for crew and frontline personnel, and redeploying aircraft back into the fleet.
In addition, as operating flights also involve other complex restrictions, it will take time for the flight capacity to gradually increase.
The spokesman continued that as passenger flights have been reduced to a very small fraction of their normal levels over the past year or so, many crew members currently need to renew the validity of their licenses, and even if all operational restrictions are lifted, the process will still take time.
Our training programme is fully compliant with all regulatory bodies and is progressing in an orderly manner.
Random teams will update their licenses one after another, and Cathay Pacific will also increase flight capacity and flights to strengthen its route network.
Since the re-recruitment of local pilots began last summer, about 200 qualified pilots have been recruited; together with other airlines in the group, we have recruited about 300 additional pilots.
Cathay Pacific has also launched a comprehensive recruitment plan to meet the company's operational needs in the next 18 to 24 months. The goal is to hire more than 4,000 frontline employees, including 700 additional pilots by the end of 2023 (300 of whom are pilots) Directly admitted pilots and 400 trainee pilot training program graduates).
Cathay Pacific has also relaunched its apprentice pilot training program, with plans to recruit and train more than 1,000 apprentice pilots by 2025.
Cathay Pacific also said that in the past two years, it has built a business with clearer goals, higher efficiency and stronger competitiveness, so as to cope with the new normal of tourism after the epidemic.
The goal at the time was to preserve as many jobs as possible while fulfilling responsibilities to Hong Kong's aviation hub and customers.
The spokesman stressed that the remuneration terms for the employment of pilots are highly competitive in the market, and the company has been able to successfully recruit and retain outstanding pilots and continue to rebuild the flight network.
The first job fair held by Cathay Pacific after the epidemic aims to hire 2,000 flight attendants. The basic salary is 9,000 yuan. It is difficult to hire people. The first 3 days of the code must be double-tested plus 1 day of nucleic acid closed-loop management of the crew canceled Free to go out and return to Hong Kong to maintain the "blue code" 0+3｜The demand for flights has increased rapidly, 400 flights will be added from October to December, and Cathay Pacific will add 400 flights next month