Cathay Pacific to use Dragonair to get around industrial dispute ban on training, union source reveals
The source says Cathay second officers will be sent to Dragonair for pilot training; they will then return to Cathay to fly new Airbus A350s
Cathay Pacific Airways is understood to be lining up sister airline Dragonair to get around an industrial dispute with its pilots.
As the company and the pilots’ union resumed negotiations on Saturday, the Sunday Morning Post understands Hong Kong’s biggest airline is preparing to send second officer pilots to Dragonair.
The plan involves training a sufficient number of pilots who will be eligible for promotion and who will then enter the cockpit of its newest aircraft, the Airbus A350. The first of 12 will be delivered this year. However, the airline faces an acute shortage of qualified pilots to man the new jets amid a union training ban.
The plan emerged after Cathay’s director of flight operations, Anna Thompson, issued a management ultimatum to all pilots calling for an end to the long-running dispute by the end of next month or face changes that could bring “long-term consequences”, without specifying what they would be and the likely consequences.
The Hong Kong Aircrew Officers Association, representing 2,100 of Cathay’s 2,900 pilots, launched the work-to-rule action over a pay-rise dispute in December 2014. Although the issue was resolved, pilots continued their industrial action because of other disputes, such as roster patterns.
The association also initiated a “training ban”– asking pilots not to become training captains, meaning there has not been enough of them to train junior pilots.
