Delta has approximately 90,000 employees and 908 aircraft in the mainline fleet. That’s 99.1 employees per aircraft.
Cathay, as of 2018 financial reports, has 33,000 employees and 194 aircraft. That’s 170 employees per aircraft.
No wonder the bonus is what it is. And at Delta, you are actually well supported to do the task at hand, with dispatchers and full time, 24x7 support. Unlike Cathay, without dispatchers or any useful assistance outside office hours.
And this is after Cathay shed about 600 employees in 2017. How can an airline dispose of 600 employees? Because none of them were frontline staff that actually contribute to the bottom line. Not only did we not fire pilots or cabin crew during that restructuring, we actually kept recruiting!
This is why any initiatives like computer rostering and EFB are destined to fail at Cathay. We overpopulate these programs with useless full-time desk jockeys that double automation tasks instead of reaping the savings and efficiencies they offer.
Take every department in Cathay city and slash it in half and the airline would not know the difference. Then you would not need to worry about finding space for things. Instead, these geniuses move crew mailboxes to the opposite side of the building where you sign on for duties, and populate dispatch with desks that sit empty during the evening push.
Some departments, like crew operations and fuel hedging, you could outright get rid off completely and the airline would be better off.