Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific appoints Ronald Lam CEO as it builds flight capacity to satisfy post-coronavirus demand
- Cathay Pacific intends to add hundreds of flights during last two months of this year as it seeks to build back capacity
- Aircrew representative says he hopes Lam’s appointment will be an ‘opportunity for change’ following cost-cutting measures taken in 2020
Hong Kong’s flagship carrier Cathay Pacific has appointed chief customer and commercial officer Ronald Lam Siu-por as its next CEO, as the airline seeks to increase flight capacity following the decline of the Covid-19 pandemic and increased travel demand.
Lam, 50, would take over the reins from Augustus Tang Kin-wing from January next year, the company announced on Wednesday.
“Ronald will lead the airline through its post-Covid recovery and the introduction of the three-runway system at Hong Kong International Airport, as the airline looks to increase its passenger flight capacity,” chairman Patrick Healy said.
Lam, who joined Cathay in 1996 as a management trainee, would continue to serve as chairman of budget carrier HK Express, the statement said. He has served in several senior roles at the city’s flagship airline, including director of commercial and cargo, and was head of HK Express in 2019, when Cathay took it over.
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Analysts called Lam’s appointment “natural” given he was in charge of the “most important unit in Cathay Pacific”, and the move was rumoured to have been in the works for some time.
Andrew Yuen Chi-lok of Chinese University’s Aviation Policy and Research Centre said as a new CEO, Lam’s challenges included a shortage of labour amid the continued recovery in air travel and finding new sources of transit passengers to meet competition from Singapore Airlines and Emirates, given the full reopening of the border with mainland China was not expected in the short term.
Jae Woon Lee, an aviation law and policy expert and an assistant professor at the same university, said Lam would be expected to reform the ways Cathay had been doing business as the airline sought to recover from the damage caused by the pandemic.
Lam and Tang were appointed to the top leadership positions following the resignation of Rupert Hogg and his deputy Paul Loo Kar-pui in August 2019, amid fallout from the anti-government demonstrations. Beijing rebuked the airline over the participation of some of its employees in the protests.
Tang, 64, returned to the airline as CEO in 2019 after 11 years leading aircraft maintenance and engineering company Haeco, which is wholly owned by Swire Pacific, also Cathay’s majority shareholder.
Tang, who has been with Swire since 1982, will continue in a new role at John Swire & Sons from January next year.
Healy said Tang was at the helm during the “most turbulent period in Cathay Pacific’s more than 75-year history,” but it was now emerging a “more focused, efficient and competitive organisation”.
As the pandemic cut demand for travel in 2020, Cathay’s financial difficulties mounted. The government came to the rescue with a bailout in June that year, providing a cash injection of HK$39 billion (US$4.9 billion) in exchange for a 6.5 per cent stake in the company.
The company shed a record 5,900 jobs several months later when it axed subsidiary Cathay Dragon, a regional carrier, and went on to impose a range of permanent and temporary staffing cuts in the first half of 2021, further reducing its workforce by 2,500.
Cathay Pacific intends to add hundreds of flights during the last two months of this year as it seeks to build back capacity, after Hong Kong eased rules for both travellers and local crew. The carrier expected to sign up more than 4,000 frontline employees to meet travel demand over the next 18 to 24 months, but warned time would be needed to retrain workers and reactivate aircraft.
Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific to ramp up flights to top destinations
The airline’s passenger flight capacity for September was 16 per cent of pre-pandemic level, while cargo capacity stood at 61 per cent.
By the end of the year, the carrier hopes to reach a third of its pre-pandemic passenger flight capacity and two-thirds of its previous cargo flight capacity.
Regional rival Singapore Airlines, meanwhile, is planning for 81 per cent of its pre-pandemic passenger flight capacity by December.
Paul Weatherilt, chairman of the Hong Kong Aircrew Officers Association, which represents local pilots, said he hoped Lam’s appointment would be an “opportunity for change” following cost-cutting measures taken in 2020, and added the airline had a “mountain to climb to replace the staff, particularly pilots that have left and continue to leave”.
Cathay Pacific lacks staff to cope with increased Hong Kong demand: Pilots’ union
Lavinia Lau Hoi-zee, 52, will take over Lam’s position on January 1, next year.
Cathay also announced Alex McGowan, 50, would be appointed chief operations and service delivery officer, taking over from Greg Hughes, 61, who will retire. McGowan will take up the role on April 1, 2023.
Jeanette Mao Jie-qiong, meanwhile, would lead Hong Kong Express as CEO from April 1 2023, only the second woman to do so, taking over from Mandy Ng Kit-man, who will take over McGowan’s role.
