Holiday flights into and out of Hong Kong could face disruption this summer as Dragonair pilots consider a work-to-rule over what they claim is the airline's discriminatory treatment of its locally recruited cockpit crew.
The 375-member Dragonair Pilots Association (DPA) will vote on June 27 whether to impose contract compliance against Hong Kong's second-biggest airline in their dispute over the compensation gap between expatriate pilots and locally hired ones, who are predominantly Hong Kong Chinese.
The vote could trigger a work-to-rule, which falls short of industrial action but in which cockpit crew would work to the letter of their contracts and refuse additional duties. The DPA represents 90 per cent of the airline's pilots.
The move could come at the start of the busy summer travel season. Dragonair, which serves such popular destinations as Hanoi, Kathmandu, Phuket and about 20 mainland cities, carried, along with its sister airline Cathay Pacific, 2.5 million passengers last July.
About one in four of Dragonair's pilots is locally hired, and they have historically received less generous compensation packages than their expatriate colleagues, largely because of housing and education allowances that can account for about 50 per cent of total expatriate packages.
The DPA has long argued that after a certain period - about seven years or when they reach the rank of captain - locally hired pilots should receive an amount equal to the wages and allowances of expatriates.