Bonus for Cathay staff after turnaround

Ayra Wang

Cathay Pacific Airways will give employees at least four weeks' pay as a bonus after Hong Kong's flag carrier recovered to prepandemic capacity this month.

Cathay chief executive Ronald Lam Siu-por said the airline completed its "rebuild journey" last year and reached a strong financial performance for two years in a row.

"This enabled us to return to 100 percent of our prepandemic flight capacity this month and made it possible for us to commit more than HK$100 billion in investments to further elevate our customers' experience in the future," Lam said.

He said the company will distribute a minimum of four weeks' pay to all employees under the profit-sharing scheme while the final payment amount will be announced alongside the 2024 annual report to be released in mid-March.

The scheme was introduced by the airline in August, 2023, and will last three years. In 2023, Cathay employees received a bonus equal to 7.2 weeks of pay.

Lam said last year's profit will need to be distributed among more people as the company had grown its team significantly during the year.

He also said the group will keep moving toward its vision of becoming one of the world's greatest service brands this year by maintaining aviation safety, enhancing employee dynamics and strengthening service quality, adding that the company will continue to "put customers at the center of everything."

He continued: "This stage of our journey is like moving from a finalist to a medalist in a world championship.

"Our collective efforts matter in helping us achieve a third consecutive year of strong performance this year."

Lam also said the group's four major businesses - Cathay Pacific, Cathay Cargo, Cathay Lifestyle and HK Express - have formulated robust plans to become the best in their respective areas, and in turn deliver great profitability.

Cathay employees have already received a 3.8 percent pay rise this year, along with a bonus of one month's salary distributed on January 7.