Mass resignation of pilots forces Cathay to step up hiring

Cathay Pacific is still facing an exodus of pilots in Hong Kong and management, seeing no let up in the trend, is considering hiring options to the combat depleted crew ranks, senior executives said at a company town hall Thursday, according to a person who attended the meeting. The carrier’s top management, including chief operations and service delivery officer Greg Hughes, told staff that an initial spike in pilot resignations last November had remained at high levels through January and is expected to continue to be high in coming months, the person said. Cathay said it “will do everything we can to maintain vital connections for passengers and cargo into and out of Hong Kong, including retaining, hiring and rehiring current and former Cathay pilots in Hong Kong.” “We have already resumed our pilot recruitment activities and this has generated significant interest within the Hong Kong pilot community and around the world,” the airline added. Hong Kong remains wedded to a Covid-zero strategy, isolated alongside China as the world’s biggest holdouts as other nations learn to live with the virus. A resurgence in community infections in the once-vibrant Asian financial hub, coupled with fresh curbs on a wide range of activities, continues to wear on the city’s residents. To combat the exodus in the cockpit, Cathay said it plans to hire back all available ex-pilots from its now-defunct sister airline Cathay Dragon by the end of March, without specifying the total, adding to the 130 it recently brought back, the person said. A further 140 new cadets will undergo training this year and ex-graduate aircrew will be taken on, the person added.<br/>