Pilots at Cathay Pacific are pushing to get a seat at the table in upcoming restructuring discussions, and have organised a newspaper advertisement to encourage public support for the cause.
The union representing these pilots, the Hong Kong Aircrew Officers Association (HKAOA) has confirmed this action was made in response to the airline declining further government employment subsidies for its main business units.
By declining further government assistance, it now frees up the company to announce mass layoffs across Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon, which has aircrew understandably nervous.
“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 HKAOA general secretary Chris Beebe.
Beebe did not elaborate on what conditions the Cathay pilots might offer in lieu of job losses, however he said that many Cathay pilots had already participated in voluntary unpaid leave programs.
The union created an advertisement to gain public support for the Cathay Pilots, which ran in the South China Morning Post on Wednesday, according to Beebe, and highlighted the significance of the union’s 2,200 members to the city’s “global reputation”.
Cathay Pacific responded to the advertising campaign and said it welcomed all employee ideas on how best to continue to navigate through the COVID-19 crisis.
“We appreciate all ideas presented to us for consideration in our planning, and our door remains open,” the airline said.
Analysts have suggested that carriers such as Cathay Pacific and Singapore Airlines will struggle to recover from the COVID-19 crisis more-so than most, as they have no domestic network to rely upon.
Cathay previously received a $5 billion rescue package from the Hong Kong government which has seen it refrain from large-scale job cuts to date, however has warned employees that it is currently reviewing all aspects of its business model.
A restructuring plan is expected to be announced alongside the airline’s quarterly results.
