Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific vows to avoid repeat of recent flight cancellations, even as many pilots reach hour limit amid staff shortage concerns
- In memo seen by Post, airline says it operated nearly 8 per cent more daily flights in holiday period despite cancelling less than 1 per cent of services since mid-December
- But Cathay acknowledges many pilots have reached, or are close to, maximum 900 flying hours, as some cockpit crew lament increased fatigue
Hong Kong flag carrier Cathay Pacific Airways has pledged to avoid repeating recent service cancellations, even as many pilots reach their maximum flying hours and some lament increased fatigue amid concerns over a staff shortage.
In an internal memo issued on Saturday and seen by the Post, Cathay Pacific director of flight operations Chris Kempis said the airline had operated nearly 8 per cent more services per day during the Christmas and New Year holiday period despite having cancelled less than 1 per cent of flights since mid-December.
Noting sickness rates were elevated on certain days, Kempis acknowledged “the important fact” that many pilots had “worked hard throughout the year” and reached or were very close to their limit of 900 flying hours for the past 12 months.
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“The interaction of these and other factors is a learning point for us and it’s on me to ensure that we don’t see a repeat of the same circumstances going forward,” he wrote, conceding that many pilots had agreed to work on their guaranteed days off and swap many flights during the period.
According to the websites for the carrier and Hong Kong International Airport, at least 28 flights scheduled to depart between Friday and Sunday had been cancelled.
Cathay on Friday said a “small number of flights” had been cancelled, after it experienced “higher than anticipated pilot absence caused by seasonal illness on certain days in December”.
Pilots the Post spoke to said the problem of flight cancellations might persist because of the shortage of experienced cockpit crew.
A Cathay pilot, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, accused the airline of not having enough staff with available hours to handle the flights it was operating.
The pilot said flight cancellations usually worsened at the end of every month when cockpit crew started to use up their hour quotas.
He said the crew barely hit the 900-hour mark before the pandemic, but even short-haul fleets had reached the limit a few months ago, after the airline set a goal to reach 70 per cent of pre-Covid passenger capacity by the end of this year.
“To make a short haul roster hit 900 hours, we are doing a number of take-offs and landings that we have never seen before,” the source said, voicing concerns over safety issues triggered by crew fatigue.
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He warned that any attempts to extend the flight time limitation by going beyond 900 hours in 12 months would only cause more pilots to quit.
“Other airlines spent years to retain their workforce and experienced [staff], but Cathay Pacific is chasing people away,” he said.
A Cathay spokesman told the Post on Saturday that the airline was taking “targeted approaches” to tackle the issue of recruiting and training staff.
He said that nearly 2,000 former employees had rejoined the group, and it was on track to recruit talent to support its operations and drive rebuilding efforts to meet its targets.
In October 2020, Cathay cut 5,300 jobs locally and axed its regional airline Cathay Dragon in a restructuring bid after air travel was brought to a standstill.
It extended cost-cutting contracts to all remaining employees, which for pilots meant salaries being slashed by about 40 per cent, while housing and retirement benefits were also reduced.
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The pilot source said Cathay cockpit crew now also had less control over their personal lives as they were often put on standby and called into work on short notice, even on their days off.
Another senior pilot, who asked to remain anonymous, agreed rosters were more tightly packed “than ever before”.
He said his roster over the Christmas period had many last-minute changes, which prompted him to carry extra clothing in case he was unable to go home between flights.
“There is no work-life balance right now,” he said. “It’s not sustainable.”
But most troubling was the lack of guarantees in the terms and conditions of current contracts, he said.
The airline has 2,532 pilots as of this month, about 35 per cent less than before the pandemic, according to the Hong Kong Aircrew Officers Association.
The union said the airline had just more than half the captains and first officers that it had before the pandemic.
Cathay plans to hire another 5,000 workers in 2024, in addition to the 4,000 recruited this year.
In a statement to the Post, the Civil Aviation Department said it had reminded Cathay to provide arrangements for affected passengers, such as putting them on other flights to minimise inconvenience caused.
“[We] will continue to closely follow up the related arrangements adopted by the concerned airline,” the department said.
Law Cheung-kwok, the senior adviser at the Chinese University of Hong Kong’s Aviation Research and Policy Centre, said the city faced increased competition for experienced pilots amid a global shortage.
Carriers such as Southwest Airlines, Delta Air Lines and American Airlines have increased pilot wages by more than 30 per cent.
“Cathay should look at the overall package in order to retain the pilots and provide them a comfortable and happy working environment, otherwise the United States is a big magnet to attract experienced pilots,” he said.
He said a pilot shortage would mean a slower-than-expected flight expansion plan and persistently high airline ticket prices, particularly for long-haul routes.
Travel industry leaders urged Cathay to avoid cancellations in future, but said the recent disruption had not had a big impact on the sector.
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Timothy Chui Ting-pong, executive director of the Hong Kong Tourism Association, said the cancellations were not ideal, especially their timing during a busy holiday period.
Steve Huen Kwok-chuen, executive director of travel agency EGL Tours, said the Cathay cancellations affected two of his company’s tours, including one returning from Beijing and another from Bangkok on Friday, which involved a total of more than 40 tourists.
He said they had to switch to another Cathay flight, which caused a delay of a few hours.
Huen urged the carrier to learn from the experience and make better arrangements for the coming Lunar New Year and Easter holidays.
Additional reporting by Fiona Sun
