Cathay Pacific to rehire hundreds of cabin crew ahead of ‘recovery in Hong Kong and global aviation’

Cathay Pacific Airways will rehire hundreds of cabin crew who were previously laid off or resigned ahead of plans to ramp up its flight services, the Post has learned.

The airline company invited former staff who had said they would like to be contacted for future jobs to send a priority application in an email seen by the Post on Wednesday.

“I’m pleased that as we look to resume our flight operations, it is the right time for us to begin rebuilding our team,” Jeanette Mao, the airline’s general manager overseeing in-flight service, said in the email which was sent on Tuesday.

A Cathay Pacific spokeswoman confirmed the airline would be hiring pilots, cabin crew, ground staff, engineers and other front-line employees to meet its operational needs.

She said the company had been reviewing its staffing requirements for the coming 18 months to two years given the time needed to train new staff, and was planning for “the anticipated recovery” in Hong Kong and global aviation during this period.

“We have started to reach out to former cabin crew of the Cathay Pacific Group who we had to part ways with during the restructuring in 2020, but who expressed an interest in being notified when opportunities to rejoin Cathay Pacific arise,” she said.

The Hong Kong flag carrier began recruiting more local pilots since summer last year. It said it had added 200 pilots for Cathay Pacific, with a total of 300 across the Cathay Pacific Group’s airlines.