Cabin crew on top pay targeted in bid to counter rising fuel costs and overheads
Cathay Pacific Airways will offer early retirement to as many as 1,600 of its most experienced and highest paid cabin crew in an effort to offset rising fuel and operating costs.
Cathay's announcement yesterday of its first early retirement scheme came as a 'bombshell' to a cabin crew staff union, which complained it was not consulted on the plan.
Cathay was hit by a 48 per cent jump in fuel costs last year compared with 2004, denting its net profit by more than 25 per cent to a disappointing $3.29 billion despite a 19 per cent rise in sales.
'We are introducing the scheme mainly as a way to cut costs,' the airline's cabin crew manager, Shirley Au Yeung, said.
Cathay said the scheme was voluntary and targeted the roughly 1,600 Hong Kong-based cabin crew who joined the in-flight services department by 31 December, 1991. The incentive payments on offer vary, but more than 80 per cent of the targeted staff would receive between 10 and 17 months' salary on top of their standard retirement benefits, Ms Au Yeung said.
Monthly salaries, including allowances, average $23,000 for a flight purser and $27,000 for a senior purser. Cabin crew with 20 years' experience are promoted to the rank of inflight service manager and have their wages capped at $36,000. More than half of the eligible cabin crew are senior pursers.
