Cathay Pacific struggles to put its troubles behind it

For an airline with the marketing slogan “Move Beyond”, Cathay Pacific is struggling to put its many troubles behind it. The Hong Kong flag carrier hoped 2024 would mark its return to full capacity and an upward trajectory in its fortunes after years of pandemic-related disruptions. In terms of profitability benchmarks, the airline is on track — Cathay expects its full-year results due to be announced in March will show it breaking a three-year streak of annual losses. But more broadly, the carrier is beset with a long list of problems — an acute shortage of pilots, low cabin crew morale, a lacklustre share price and passenger complaints over flight cancellations. It has cancelled more than 80 flights since Christmas Eve, raising a public expression of concern from the territory’s leader. “It is the basic service requirement for airlines to provide satisfactory service to passengers,” John Lee said this week. The Hong Kong Aircrew Officers Association, its pilots’ union, have called for an inquiry into the pilot shortages and cancellations. Gary Chan, a local pro-Beijing lawmaker, was among those who saw his flight to mainland China cut this week. It would be “difficult not to foster distrust towards” the airline, he lamented. Such problems have shaken the confidence of staff of an airline ranked the world’s best four times by the Skytrax consultancy, most recently in 2014. As a pilot who has flown for more than 25 years with the airline put it, “you used to be at the top of the Premier League. Now you are near the bottom.” Cathay’s pilot workforce was about 40 per cent lower than 2019 levels as of last month, according to the HKAOA despite an active recruitment of new joiners. Cabin crew numbers were also roughly 50 per cent lower than pre-Covid figures, according to its flight attendants union.<br/>