Exclusive | Cathay Pacific Airways prepares pilot base closures, leaving hundreds of jobs at risk
- Hong Kong flag carrier to shut its pilot base in Canada, those in Australia and New Zealand may also face the axe
- Cockpit crew bases in Europe and US to be reviewed later in the year, according to memo sent to staff
The moves come as part of a review of the airline’s overseas cockpit crew operations, which will also see it re-evaluate its European and United States pilot bases later this year, according to a memo sent to staff on Thursday. The memo indicated the airline would start to transfer pilots to Hong Kong on a voluntary basis.
However, if the carrier were to transfer overseas pilots to Hong Kong, it could prove controversial. Existing expatriate cockpit crew in the city are only receiving short-term work visa approvals, and there is a large pool of unemployed local pilots following the shutdown of Cathay Dragon last year. Hong Kong authorities could block the move.
Furloughed Europe- and US-based pilots have been receiving half of their salary, while their Canadian colleagues were getting two-thirds. Since April 1, however, Cathay has not been paying its Australian crews. All overseas passenger fleet pilots had been stood down since May last year, the airline said.
Deborah McConnochie, Cathay’s general manager for aircrew, said the decision to close the Canada base was “not taken lightly”. She said the airline had also written to Australian and New Zealand pilots to start a consultative process “based on a proposal to close those base areas”.
