Cathay plans hiring spree to prepare for Hong Kong travel bounce

Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. is planning to recruit 4,000 staff between now and the end of 2023 to replenish its severely depleted workforce and gear up for an anticipated recovery in air travel as Hong Kong rebuilds itself as an aviation hub, according to Chief Executive Officer Augustus Tang. While the hiring spree would still leave Cathay with significantly fewer employees than pre-Covid times with staff numbers at levels last seen in 2007, the plan marks a turnaround in the airline’s outlook after three years of turmoil and cost cutting. Cathay employed about 16,700 people at the end of 2021. “Hong Kong is a very important international aviation hub and it is not off the map at all,” Tang said in an interview with Bloomberg News at Swire Pacific Ltd.’s Hong Kong headquarters earlier Wednesday. “In preparation for the recovery, we need to recruit well in advance because it takes a lot of time to recruit and train.” Cathay intends to bring in 700 pilots and about 2,000 cabin crew, with the remaining positions open for frontline airport staff working in areas such as customer service, Tang said. Including Cathay’s subsidiaries, the total hiring plan numbers around 8,000. Cathay’s workforce has shrunk by about 40% during the Covid-19 pandemic, more than other major carriers, including regional rival Singapore Airlines, which is bouncing back after the Southeast Asian nation dropped quarantine rules in April. Hong Kong is now making tentative steps to loosen travel restrictions and has lowered mandatory hotel quarantine to seven days from 21.<br/>