Pilot Crunch Hits Cathay Pacific As Pilots Resign In Large Numbers
Vandana Singh
Fri, June 17, 2022,
Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd (OTC: CPCAY) is facing a continuously high rate of pilot resignations.
Bloomberg reported that the airline says it may improve allowances and benefits to lure the crew who took deep pay cuts to the carrier during the COVID-19 crisis.
"We still have resignation rates at much higher levels than we've historically had," Chief Operations and Service Delivery Officer Greg Hughes said at a town hall meeting for Cathay staff watched online by Bloomberg News.
"It would also be an incorrect statement for me to make that COS18 is not one of the reasons."
COS18 referred to contracts introduced in 2018 for new employees and expanded to all existing crew in October 2020, cutting pilots' pay by about 40% and reducing housing and retirement benefits.
Cathay's workforce was reduced to almost 40% during the pandemic.
In November, there was an increase in resignations after about 150 Cathay staff and their families were sent to a government-run COVID isolation camp when three crew members became infected while overseas.
As per the Bloomberg report, Cathay plans to hire 4,000 people by the end of next year, including 700 pilots, Tang said.
The airline plans to recruit and train 800 new junior pilots by 2025.
Airlines globally are seeing staffing crunches, with travel catching up as the pandemic restrictions are lifted in most places.
Photo via Wikimedia Commons
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