Cathay Pacific has raised the allowance it gives pilots to cover their kids' school fees and locked in pay benchmarks for two years as it tackles a chronic shortage of aircrew that led to mass flight cancellations.
The flight giant will increase its school fee cap by 50 percent to HK$150,000 for each eligible child between 11 and 18 years old, according to a memo seen by Bloomberg News.
Other incentives include a pledge to keep a metric of hours flown tied to take-home pay the same through the end of 2025, essentially averting pay cuts.
Cathay said in a statement it will continue to listen to and communicate with the pilot community to make enhancements where appropriate, Bloomberg reported.
The company has been scrambling to hire more pilots after Covid-related job losses gutted its ranks, and pay cuts for those that remained — more than 45 percent for some crew — sparked an exodus.
The shortage of captains and first officers, and a sudden uptick in seasonal illnesses, culminated in mass flight cancellations through the end of February that prompted the pilots' union to call for a government inquiry into the carrier's handling of the issue.
The government has asked Cathay to submit a report by the end of January to explain the cause of the flight cancellation incident and its approach to handling flight arrangements in order to prevent similar incidents from occurring again.
"This is an admission by Cathay management that pilot pay remains uncompetitive," said the Hong Kong Aircrew Officers Association in response, "But it's a piecemeal approach - what is required is a comprehensive and mutually enforceable contract."
The association added that it is a major concern for the management's ability to change pilot pay at will.
"Pilots would like to see the same stability that management enjoys since they restored their pre-pandemic pay over a year ago."
(Staff reporter and Bloomberg)
