They did all the wrong things and the beautiful poetic justice has been biting them in the a$$ ever since. Doing the right things would be to reduce crew count per the long standing contracts, by seniority (this would mean most cuts would be non-
PR therfore negating the visa crisis these idiots didn't forsee), and paycuts on a temporary basis giving hope for a worthwhile job once again in the future.
Now they have to let go of all non-
PR as if they had followed the contract and kept that one ounce of employer credibility they had. They have zero credibility as an employer now because of cancelling the contracts unilaterally and overnight without any discussion whatsoever and making this a "no contract" job permanently.
They also have to raise the payscales and the pay structure back to something resembling what it was before (more money and yearly increments) once business returns or else no pilots would come even on a temporary basis (not enough and the quality it takes to sustain operatio). The 300 or so local/
PR existing in hk would not be more than a drop in the bucket. They will need to hire from outside shortly after business starts ro return. They could have just announced the paycuts as temporary until then and keep some credibility. Now they'll have to raise the pay and it won't help their zero credibility. This means whoever comes will come with the intent of staying for a short while. The cost of constant new hire training will kill them. Good luck with hiring mainland Chinese pilots to fly cathay. Not many Hong kongers will fly on those planes for obvious reasons.
Same shkuld have been done with dragon.. Not dissolving the entire operation overnight. All the millions invested to buy and upgrade and integrate dragon was flushed down the toilet including the routes which cathay will never regain besides a token few.
If they had done the right things, they would end up in the same place anyway. Layoffs based on seniority and temporary paycuts after at lease a presence of discussion.
Everything they were trying to get away with they have to do anyway and it cost them their credibility permanently.
The idiot who was the mastermind of this debacle deserves recognition for the unnessasary predicament cathay is in once again due to it's own management incompetence on a new scale.
ALL of what's happening now I was blurting out all the way to Anchorage the morning forced cos18 was announced. To annoyance of my dear fellow crewmembers. It's ALL coming true. This visa issue, intent to close all the bases and losing all those pilots, people quitting for garbage airlines now a better prospect than cathay, mass of stress leaves, bankruptcies, pilots with families packing and leaving for home with no job yet, etc.
They're losing people at an unsustainable rate and it's always the best ones who leave first affecting not only numbers but also quality of staff remaining. Not just pilots. The back office staff, IT etc are taking other jobs for less money and leaving for some time now. It's a main subject of weekly management meetings how critical the office staff situation has become. The pilots are taking jobs with less money they wouldn't even consider couple of years ago or just quitting with no job to move to. We all know several of those. There are 15+ year seniority pilots leaving to start at the bottom of sh!tshow airlines whom Ince cos18 beat cathay on pay and benefits. I'm one of them and i personally know at least 30 others having done the same.
What an accomplishment! Well done cathay... NOT!