The 60-week stint is held at a flight training school in Adelaide, Australia, renowned for its good flying conditions year-round. Cathay works in partnership with the school and is the sponsor for each of its cadets, which includes the cost of the course, accommodation, meals and the provision of a small allowance.

Once the training is successfully completed the trainee receives a commercial pilot's licence, which is necessary for a cadet to be part of the piloting crew with Cathay. They begin their career with Cathay as a second officer.

The programme has several stages broken into two core elements - ground and flying.

The first week consists of cadets going through outbound training for team building purposes.

This is followed by a month of ground training where they learn the theory behind the basic principles of flying.

Weeks six to 25 consist of alternate days of ground training and flying - the former involving learning and preparation for the Hong Kong pilot's exam and the latter including the first solo flight in a single-engine aircraft and other general flying exercises needed to obtain a pilot's licence.

Gabriel Mok, a second officer, who completed his cadetship in May, said: 'There were so many flying skills to acquire and so much knowledge to absorb within a limited time-frame. There were certainly challenging days in Adelaide.'

To pass the two-day Hong Kong commercial licence exam, trainees also undergo a two-week practical study on the ground.

The real fun then starts as the next 17 weeks are all about flying, covering navigation, flying on instruments and visuals and other specialised flying techniques.

During this time the required flying hours are clocked up to obtain the licence; the base is 160 hours, but most cadets require 200 or more.

There are two practical exams, one on instruments and the other on twin-engine piloting, and several in-house exams to judge a cadet's overall progress on a practical and theoretical level.

'The ground school provided me with aviation knowledge on a very comprehensive level, including navigation, flight planning, engineering, law and much more,' Mr Mok said.

'In my case, during the flight training element I acquired 220 hours of flying time with four aircraft types and two flight simulators.'

The extensive training continues until week 55, at which time the cadet should be ready to pass the licence exams.

The last five weeks include simulator training and Cathay's tailor-made element to familiarise the cadet with flying a commercial aircraft and Cathay's standard operating procedures, which are unique to the airline.

To date, 270 cadets have passed and have been offered a position with Cathay.

Of these, 85 per cent remained with the airline, Peggy Chung, assistant manager, flight crew recruitment (cadet pilot), said. Because the programme costs the company about $1 million per cadet it is very strict in selecting candidates and would rather select fewer than targeted than fill projections with unsuitable candidates.

'It is a quality-driven recruitment process. We target 36 cadets a year from 2,000 applications, but last year we selected only 22,' Ms Chung said.

The company aims to send three groups of cadets to Australia each year.

'If you have an interest in becoming a pilot with Cathay ... make sure you have a real interest in flying. Getting up to fly at 3am takes passion,' Ms Chung said.

The selection process is rigorous and involves several rounds of interviews and a series of tests - aptitude, reasoning, numeric, language, and computer skills.

Candidates who perform well in interview and test stages are sent to Adelaide for a two-week flight grading.

A final selection grading is made and successful candidates are offered a place on the cadet pilot programme.

Mr Mok said: 'I think I was selected for my motivation and determination to succeed - I spent a lot of time on preparation before tasks and on evaluation afterwards - and for my passion to fly. I love the freedom of manoeuvring the aircraft.

'Working as a pilot is a very rewarding experience with great career prospects and job satisfaction.

'The dynamic life of a pilot provides me with world perspectives and I encourage anyone who is passionate about aviation to take this golden opportunity to become a cadet pilot.'

Necessary traits

Excellent communication skills

Technical aptitude

Ability to multi-task

Excellent judgment and problem-solving skills

Leadership qualities

Motivated

Ambition to succeed and advance in your career

What the airline requires

Hong Kong permanent resident at least 18 years old

Minimum height 160cm

Good physical condition

Good eyesight

Excellent command of English

Minimum education requirement - five HKCEE passes including physics and maths and two passes in HKALE, preferably in science subjects or equivalent overseas education, or a degree holder in any discipline