Hong Kong Airlines has fired nine pilots who refused to sign new contracts that cut the basic salaries of cockpit crew to as little as HK$17,500 a month.
The pilots - four first officers and five captains - were terminated after being given a deadline of March 31 to agree to the contracts, which the pilots say halve basic pay in some cases and diminish other entitlements.
A spokesman for Hong Kong Airlines, which had 52 pilots before the sackings, confirmed the dismissals but denied those were connected to new contracts. He declined to say why the pilots, who were mostly expatriates from Australasia and South America, had been sacked.
The move comes amid severe cost-cutting at the start-up airline, which operates Boeing 737 aircraft on regional flights in competition with airlines including Dragonair. Earlier this year, it asked all cockpit crew to take a week's unpaid leave.
A copy of the new contract seen by the Sunday Morning Post cuts basic salaries to HK$17,500 a month for first officers with less than 1,500 hours of jet flying time, HK$20,000 a month for more than 1,500 hours of flying and HK$22,500 for more than 3,000 hours of flying. Captains with less than 3,000 hours of flying time will get HK$30,000 a month, while those with more than 3,000 hours will receive HK$40,000.
In addition to their basic pay, each pilot receives a monthly market-based adjustment lump sum of HK$10,000 and the prospect of a further productivity-based payment ranging from HK$225 to HK$1,000.
According to one of the sacked pilots, basic pay for captains was previously HK$75,000 or HK$65,000, depending on flying time, and HK$45,000 or HK$40,000 for first officers, although previous fixed market-based adjustment levels were lower.