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Shirley Zhao

Cathay Pacific Airways announced on Friday a 2 per cent pay rise for all non-managerial staff for the coming year, while managers will face a freeze due to a “very difficult financial environment”.
The decision will benefit some 14,000 Cathay staff based in Hong Kong.
The airline also announced a 13th month bonus payment for all staff based in Hong Kong except for those who join the company around the end of the year.
Cathay Pacific lowers second-half profit forecast as overcapacity, competition take a toll
The decision came after the 7,200-member cabin crew union demanded a 5 per cent rise. The Flight Attendants Union said it would accept the deal.
“We feel there is no alternative [but to accept],” union chairwoman Dora Lai Yuk-sim said. “In the past, managers enjoyed the company’s gains more than frontline employees did. This time we can see the company’s sincerity and determination to ride over the hard time with us by freezing senior staff salaries.”
In a written announcement, Cathay chief executive Ivan Chu Kwok-leung said the company had seen a “significant drop” in revenue due to factors such as pressure on investment returns, excessive capacity and a decline in premium traffic.
“We believe that 2017 will remain challenging with the same adverse factors having a continued impact on our business,” Chu said.
In August, the airline announced that its net income had slumped 82 per cent to HK$353 million in the first six months compared with the same period last year. The drop was partly the result of a HK$4.49 billion loss from placing wrong-way bets on fuel prices.
Lai said Cathay had explained its outlook to the union. “I think it’s the worst outlook I have ever seen,” she said. “We are facing a really great challenge, especially next year.”
Lai said the company told the union that it was worried about “cut-throat competition” as other airlines operating in the region had ordered over 1,000 planes and looked set to challenge Cathay’s business.
Cathay Pacific to freeze hiring, watch its budget after 1H net profit missed estimates
“If the competition is so acute there is a sales war, it will have a great impact on profit,” she said.
The union, representing about 80 per cent of the airline’s flight attendants, had also made progress on its demand to extend the retirement age from 55 to 60, Lai said.
She said the current retirement age was unfair to flight attendants as other employees could retire at 60 or 65.
Another problem with retiring at 55 is that the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority allows people to withdraw their retirement fund only from the age of 65, or 60 if a special application is filed. That means cabin crew have to wait several years after retiring before getting their MPF savings.
A Cathay Pacific spokesman said all eligible staff could withdraw from the company’s voluntary pension scheme once they left the company.
“We’ve been fighting for this over the past seven years,” said Lai. “This year, [Cathay] finally said it would discuss the issue with us.”
The retirement age of Cathay’s cabin crew in London is 65. The airline has not set a mandatory retirement age for flight attendants based in the United States.


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Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific announces 2 per cent pay rise for non-managerial staff

This Cathay Pacific flight attendant will receive a 2 per cent pay rise. Photo: Jonathan Wong

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Cathay Pacific chief executive Ivan Chu Kwok-leung (front) said that passenger revenue had been adversely affected by a reduced load factor. Photo: Dickson Lee

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Flight attendants’ union accepts increase given airline’s bad financial prospects and fact that managerial staff will have pay frozen


Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific announces 2 per cent pay rise for non-managerial staff

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Flight attendants’ union accepts increase given airline’s bad financial prospects and fact that managerial staff will have pay frozen

Flight attendants’ union accepts increase given airline’s bad financial prospects and fact that managerial staff will have pay frozen