The Cathay Pacific pilot and air hostess photographed indulging in a sex act in the cockpit of a plane have left the airline, chief executive John Slosar said last night.
Photographs of a Chinese woman performing the sex act on the expatriate pilot were widely circulated and posted on the internet in recent days.
An internal investigation was launched and a report on the incident - which the airline insists did not take place while any of its planes were airborne - is now being prepared for the Civil Aviation Department.
In a statement, Slosar implied the couple were dismissed and accused them of recklessly soiling the reputation of the company through their actions.
He said: 'I can confirm that two members of our crew shown in compromising situations in photographs published recently in Chinese-language daily newspapers are no longer employees of the company.
'I can also report that we have found no evidence to suggest that the incident happened on any of our flights while airborne. We will now produce a report of our findings and pass it to our regulator, the Hong Kong Civil Aviation Department (CAD). We will continue to co-operate with CAD as required.