Exclusive | Settle pilot visa issue soon or risk damage to air hub image, Hong Kong cargo operator warns government amid staff crunch
- Seven pilots at Hong Kong Air Cargo have been sidelined without pay and are waiting for their visa renewal applications to be approved
- HKAC wants Immigration Department to decide whether extension can be made for a longer period
Hong Kong Air Cargo (HKAC) has said it is facing a staff crunch as several of its expatriate pilots have been kept waiting for their expired work visas to be renewed, or getting only three-month extensions at a time.
Seven pilots – about a tenth of HKAC’s cockpit crew – have been sidelined without pay and are waiting for their visa renewal applications to be approved. At least four others would be in the same situation soon, the company told the Post.
A subsidiary of HNA-backed Hong Kong Airlines, HKAC employs 74 pilots and flies five Airbus A330-200 freighter planes with a dozen routes and daily departures. Sixty-five of the cockpit crew members are on work visas.
On Friday afternoon, the Immigration Department informed the airline it would extend the pilots’ visas for three months, a short-term lifeline that will allow them to fly up to mid-August and prevent further flight cancellations for now.