Rice power: Opinions differ but facts are facts and a fact is that the airline industry in general can no longer afford to provide the benefits or pay pilots at the at previous levels. Apart from the need to be competitive the Cathay packages worth well upwards of HK$4 million were clearly out of step with the then current industry levels and needed to change. It can perhaps be reasonably argued that the cuts went unnecessarily far and some believe that they were treated harshly but change was unavoidable and escalated by the pandemic and Hong Kong's handling of it.
Given all of the circumstances Cathay overall treated its staff far better than did most of its major competitors but unavoidably there were causalities and some will never get over what they perceive as Cathay ruining their lifestyle and prospects while the vast majority have accepted the unavoidable and got on with life. Cathay is a business not a charity and needs to be completive to survive and If salary and benefits need to be raised to hold and attract a stable pilot workforce that is what will happen. .