Pilots at Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific Airways are pushing to be included in restructuring talks at the carrier and will run a newspaper advertisement to drum up public support, a union representing them said Tuesday. The comments come after the group this month declined to apply for more government employment subsidies for its main business units, freeing it from the condition to retain jobs tied to the grants and fuelling worries of layoffs. "What we want is to make sure if there is some sort of decision with regards to the future of the pilots, that we will be involved in discussions on what the structure looks like," said Chris Beebe, the general secretary of the Hong Kong Aircrew Officers Association (HKAOA). Beebe declined to comment on whether pilots would offer concessions like temporary salary cuts or unpaid leave schemes as have been agreed at other airlines amid crumbling demand due to the coronavirus pandemic. Many Cathay pilots had already participated in a company-wide voluntary unpaid leave scheme, he said. The union will run an advertisement in the South China Morning Post on Wednesday in its push for a seat at the table for talks on the restructuring plan that is due to be announced in the fourth quarter, Beebe said. The advertisement will highlight HKAOA-commissioned research in which most respondents said they thought the union's 2,200 members were important to the city's global reputation.<br/>
oneworld
One of four suspects on trial for the 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 has denied any involvement with firing or supplying the missile allegedly used in the jet's destruction. Oleg Pulatov "did not contribute and he was not involved" in the incident, his lawyer Sabine ten Doesschate told The Hague District Court yesterday. "He did not and does not have any knowledge of how and why MH17 was downed." MH17 was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it was shot down by a missile fired from territory held by pro-Russian rebels during fighting in eastern Ukraine, international investigators say. All 298 people on board were killed. After an investigation lasting nearly six years, four defendants went on trial in March. <br/>
Japan Airlines is ditching the phrase "ladies and gentlemen" and instead embracing gender-neutral terms during in-flight and airport announcements from next month, the company said Monday. From October 1, JAL "will abolish expressions that based on [two types of] sex and use gender-friendly expression" like "good morning" and "good evening," a spokesperson for the airline said. In Japanese, the expression generally used for such announcements is already gender-neutral, but the decision applies to other languages used by the airline. The decision appears to be a first for major Japanese carriers, with a spokeswoman for rival ANA Holdings telling AFP they would "study the issue based on comments from our customers." <br/>