Cathay must explain flights fiasco

Cathay Pacific has been required to submit a report to the Civil Aviation Department by the end of the month to explain the cause of its recent flight cancellations as well as its approach for handling flight arrangements.

This came as 21 Cathay flights were canceled yesterday, with a passenger having to wait at an airport in the UK for more than 12 hours before she was told her flight to Hong Kong was canceled.

The airline also canceled 21 flights on Monday.

The CAD yesterday requested the airline to properly deploy manpower to ensure reliable flight services and submit a report on the wave of flight cancellations.

"It's extremely undesirable for the airline to cancel a number of flights for consecutive days," the department said, urging Cathay to notify passengers of flight changes in advance and help them catch another flight or offer a refund to minimize the inconvenience.

Cathay has said it would on average cut 12 flights a day through next month when the Lunar New Year holidays would further bring travel chaos.

The Hong Kong Aircrew Officers Association also slammed Cathay management for having made "a cynical and ill-judged" strategy during the pandemic by firing 1,000 pilots and shutting down Cathay Dragon in 2020.

"At that time the Cathay group and its staff associations were in talks centered around unpaid leave, furloughs, reduced wages and other measures, which would have enabled the airline to retain the key staff necessary for a strong post-pandemic recovery," the union said.

Such measures are standard in the industry and have been successful for the airline in previous crises, it said.

"Instead, the airline's leaders made deep and permanent reductions to the pay of frontline staff, fired pilots and flight attendants and closed their mainland-oriented carrier Cathay Dragon," the union said.

"The firing of 1,000 experienced pilots was followed in the next year or so by the resignations of a further 1,000 pilots out of a total workforce of around 4,000," it added.

The union called on the airline to take "decisive action" and improve salaries and benefits for pilots to retain and rehire staffers.

"The managers responsible for this failed strategy have now fully restored their own pay while the exodus of pilots remains unaddressed," the union said.

"Hong Kong aviation will continue to suffer until there is an acknowledgment of these mistakes and a change in leadership, particularly among those responsible for overseeing flight operations."

Meanwhile, passenger Lee, who was supposed to fly from Britain to Hong Kong, said she had to wait for more than 12 hours at the airport before Cathay told her the flight was canceled.

She had to stay at a hotel arranged by the airport overnight and catch another flight the next day, saying Cathay should have informed passengers earlier.

Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said the government is "very concerned" about the cancellations and will contact the airline as it needs "greater efforts" to rebuild capacity.

In response, Cathay apologized to affected customers and said it has made necessary improvements to ensure future operational stability.

wallis.wang@singtaonewscorp.com