Can Cathay Pacific get its act together, or is it time for Hong Kong authorities to take a stake in the airline?
- Absent pilots, cancelled flights – airline says it has learned from ‘bad spell’ but critics aren’t convinced
- Some say more competition is the way to raise standards, protect city’s international aviation hub status
Cathay cancelled 786 flights between December last year and February for reasons that ranged from internal planning failures, an “unanticipated and sustained increase” in pilot absences because of seasonal illness and increased flights over the year-end holiday season.
With an ongoing manpower shortage, the company was also forced to push back its target for restoring full pre-pandemic capacity from the end of this year to the first quarter of next year.
CEO Lam apologised handsomely as he told the lawmakers: “I admit that this situation hasn’t been satisfactory and we’ve disappointed our customers for causing all these inconveniences.”
He assured them that Cathay did not have any structural manning problems, had learned from its bad spell and that similar incidents would not occur again.
But critics worry the unsatisfactory recent events have hurt Hong Kong’s reputation as an international aviation hub, questioning if it is time for the government to relook its approach to Cathay.