CATHAY Pacific pilots, bogged down in a seven-month pay dispute with management, receive the best remuneration packages in the world, according to an independent survey of air crew salaries.
The highest paid Cathay pilots, with about 20 years' experience are paid up to $2.5 million a year, which, coupled with housing, pensions, travel, health and education perks, adds up to just under $4 million per annum.
But under pay guidelines introduced a year ago, known as the ''B scale'', salaries for pilots joining Cathay Pacific have been slashed by nearly half as part of a company policy to cut cockpit crew wage bills.
With the company presently hiring 100 cockpit crew annually, this will result in a saving of millions annually.
However, according to one pilot, the move has begun to backfire with two colleagues resigning recently because of the salary cuts and four Dragonair pilots quitting for the same reasons.
The pilot said other colleagues employed on the B scale, introduced on April 1 last year, were arranging interviews with other airlines because they were finding it difficult to support their families in Hong Kong on the packages.