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Airline honours exemplary employees
Business

Cathay inspires and empowers employees to deliver exceptional service through its annual Niki and Betsy Awards recognition initiative

  • Hong Kong’s home airline encourages its people to bring its ‘Thoughtful’, ‘Progressive’ and ‘Can-Do’ core values to life. 
  • The annual Niki and Betsy Awards presentation celebrates exemplary employees and motivates others to emulate their success and top-notch services.
     

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Cathay’s Niki and Betsy Awards honour exemplary employees who have gone above and beyond in helping customers and demonstrated outstanding efforts behind-the-scenes.
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The highest level of professionalism among cabin crew extends beyond a warm, caring attitude and attentiveness. It includes the reassurance conveyed to passengers that they are in good and steady hands in the event of an emergency.

Aspiring to become one of the world's greatest service brands, Cathay believes that reaching this goal begins with being an employer of choice. With this in mind, the airline is committed to attracting outstanding talent and nurturing its employees, from frontline to support staff, who inspire confidence and trust not just in customers, but also in each other. In addition to comprehensive professional training programmes, the company organises initiatives to honour employees who have made exemplary contributions.
 
Among these is the annual Niki and Betsy Awards programme, which recognises outstanding behind-the-scenes efforts and exceptional service and care delivered by dedicated employees. At the recent award presentation ceremony held at Cathay City, hundreds of employees from around the world and across all departments gathered to celebrate the awardees amidst an electrifying festive atmosphere.
At the ceremony, Cathay’s employees from different departments and around the world celebrated the outstanding achievements of their exemplary colleagues.
At the ceremony, Cathay’s employees from different departments and around the world celebrated the outstanding achievements of their exemplary colleagues.
Cathay’s Director People, Patricia Hwang, told the cheering crowd that the awards recognise employees who have gone above and beyond in helping customers. The awards feature three categories: Thoughtful, Progressive, and Can-do, in alignment with the company’s core values, culture, and guiding principles.
Cathay’s Director People, Patricia Hwang, shared her words of appreciation at the ceremony.
Cathay’s Director People, Patricia Hwang, shared her words of appreciation at the ceremony.
Six winning stories were selected by voting under each category. The stories that garnered the most votes in each category also received the People’s Choice Award. Employee support was overwhelming. Cathay Group CEO Ronald Lam remarked that the company had received over 2,000 nominations this year and he was humbled by these heartwarming stories that will move Cathay closer to its vision to become one of the world's greatest service brands.
Lam said: "I extend my heartfelt congratulations to all our Niki and Betsy Awards 2024 winners. Their remarkable dedication and commitment to excellence have greatly contributed to the success of our rebuild journey, setting the scene for us to soar to even greater heights in the future. Each epic narrative demonstrates just how far our people are willing to go above and beyond the call of duty in service of both our customers and our teammates. They are indeed the role models of our Cathay culture."
Cathay Group CEO Ronald Lam soaked up the festive atmosphere with employees at the award presentation ceremony.
Cathay Group CEO Ronald Lam soaked up the festive atmosphere with employees at the award presentation ceremony.
Exceptional teamwork in managing a mid-flight medical emergency

Thoughtfulness is one of the core values embraced by Cathay employees. The 10 exemplary members of the Inflight Service Team on flight CX764 from Ho Chi Minh City to Hong Kong in February 2023 received the Thoughtful Award. It’s in honour of their shared team spirit, selflessness, and the outstanding application of knowledge acquired through training, which helped save a passenger’s life during a medical emergency.

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As the supposedly routine flight approached its last hour, an observant crew member in the Economy cabin alerted Senior Purser Lilian Hilario that a female Vietnamese passenger in her 30s looked unwell.

The initial hurdle was the language barrier. “The passenger travelled with her family members. I asked them about her condition and if there had been any similar episodes previously. They just replied no,” recalls Lilian. However, the medical knowledge Lilian received in her training told her otherwise. “I immediately paged to see if there was a medical doctor onboard.” 

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