CATHAY Pacific Airways is to announce today that it will move its pilot training school overseas because of rising operating costs in Hong Kong.
After months of study, a formal decision has been made by senior management and the 130 staff at the training school at Kai Tak airport will be told of the move this morning.
They will go along with six full-motion flight simulators and other training devices to Australia and Britain, with the first batch expected to move in 1997 and the rest by 1999.
It is understood the move is being made mainly because of the anticipated high rent costs at the Chek Lap Kok airport, due to open in early 1998.
Simulators take up a great amount of space and cannot be installed in multi-storey buildings because of their weight.
The 130 staff members, including 50 expatriates, are to be offered full relocation packages but with new salaries in line with those in their home countries - a scheme expected to save Cathay millions of dollars a year.
