Cathay in a new hostile political climate
- Official probe should answer whether the inability of some crews to abide by pandemic rules amounted to failure of management, but the government of Carrie Lam is hardly blameless
After the government’s HK$39 billion bailout of Cathay Pacific, you might expect top city officials to show the airline a little more love. But in his “humbly yours” appearance in a video to staff, Cathay chairman Patrick Healy looks like a man backed into a corner.
Police have since arrested and charged two sacked Cathay Pacific flight attendants for allegedly breaching home isolation rules. The government from Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor on down have practically blamed the airline for starting the city’s fifth wave of the pandemic in the form of the Omicron variant.
Cathay has much to answer for. It had allowed returning cabin crew who had flown out on commercial routes to skip hotel quarantine and self-isolate at home, an exemption supposedly granted only to cargo pilots. The returning crew apparently flew cargo and so technically didn’t breach the rule.
Still, it’s useful for the beleaguered government to blame it all on Cathay. After all, the so-called fifth wave has exposed its questionable zero-Covid policy. And if the rumour mill is right, Lam may seek a second term. But if the airline were still the crown jewel of a city that claims to be the region’s aviation hub, it’s doubtful Lam and the gang would have dared to play the blame game so blatantly.
Cathay Pacific to face further legal action ‘if abuse of Covid-19 rules proved’
Far from being a symbol of Hong Kong’s economic success that it once was, Cathay looks more like a colonial legacy and a financial burden.
The bailout terms in 2020 reportedly allow Cathay to defer repayments to the government until business conditions improve.
The bailout was signed in the summer of 2020, before the introduction of the national security law and Beijing-imposed electoral reforms for “patriots only”.
Cathay is looking like HSBC, a once favoured child now discarded, but whose livelihood still depends on the goodwill of China.
Regardless of the outcomes of an ongoing investigation, the authorities must make sure the airline has tightened operations from crew transfers, rotation and staffing to quarantine and vaccination schedules to comply with the latest pandemic rules.
Ultimately, the official probe should answer whether the inability of some crews to abide by pandemic rules amounted to a failure of management.
