Grounded pilots: behind Hong Kong flag carrier Cathay Pacific’s new plan for junior flight crew to serve at airport
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Chan recalled how he got lost in Hong Kong’s sprawling airport when leading a group of passengers from a late arrival flight to a connecting one, as he was not familiar with the building layout.
“It is like surviving in the wild. A totally new experience,” he said.
Chan is among the first batch of some 20 Cathay Pacific junior pilots working at the airport under a new induction programme launched this month for cadet graduates – who are qualified to fly as second officers.
In a memo last month seen by the Post, Cathay’s head of flight training Jules Tidmarsh told staff that pilots would be assigned to “customer-facing touchpoints at the airport”, including helping arriving passengers and those going through boarding procedures at departures.
Tidmarsh said in the memo pilots would undergo three days of classroom training on basic airport knowledge, followed by two days of working at boarding gates and in the arrival hall.
The selected pilots will complete one rotation of two months, before returning to their regular roster. They will be paid their basic monthly salary of around HK$32,000 (US$4,092), but not extra ground-duty allowance.