Originally Posted by
CXKR2022
Can you tell me where you got that rumor from bro?
When Swire annihilated Dragonair, all of the pilots there lost their jobs. In response, HK Gov stopped issuing visas to expats as there were now qualified and very experienced people in HK who were unemployed. This extended to work visas not being renewed for some expat SOs who had been with CX for several years. There was mediation between gov and CX and the end result at this point in time is, SOs are hired locally as cadets and expats can only apply as DEFOs as that is where the airline has the skills shortage.
Unfortunately CX lost lots of its experienced FOs to the USA when McDonalds reopened its Trainee Manager program which offers better pay and conditions. Because they had experience working for clowns they were fast-tracked.