411A, have you spent your life in a vacuum? Some of your comments would make it seem so - get that enormous chip off your shoulder and look at the issues. Here are just a few reasons I (an non-CX pilot) can come up with, off the top of my head:
First off, you said,
Have a look at the other large asian carriers. All have an excellent saftey record with the exception of Korean and China Airlines.
Well,
precisely which ones are you referring to?
SQ does NOT -
remember the stalling of the A310 over the Bay of Bengal? The stalling of the B747-400 enroute Europe? And of course SQ006 at Taipei?
JAL does NOT - B747 crash in Japan. Overrun into Tokyo{?} Bay.
Garuda does NOT - Airbus cfit in Medan. Aborted take-off and crash after V1, in Fukuoka, Japan.
MAS does NOT - F50 crash in Tawau. B737 overrun at Miri.
Thai does NOT - A300 cfit at Kathmandu.
C'mon
411A, don't make unfounded statements.
Next, the
licencing requirements of Cathay are MUCH higher than ANY of the other major Asian airlines.
The
selection process for prospective CX pilots has a far higher reject rate than other Asian carriers!
You said:
...Cathay shareholders. They expect a reasonable return on their investment so, it could be argued that it is managements' duty to keep the flight crew salaries reasonable. To do otherwise, management would be violating their fiduciary duty.
Hurrah! At last we ALL agree with you on that one. This is one of the issues, as I understand it, for the current problems. CX management have NOT kept the salaries at a reasonable level - they have pushed them to well BELOW reasonable, and the current expenditure of millions of dollars in wet leasing other carriers' aircraft to support managements' war on their pilots is certainly going to result in a blow to shareholders' returns.
One final point to remember, is the
retirement age of Cathay pilots. You,
411A mentioned the ex-CX pilots you knew at SIA - and WHY were they there? Because SQ pilots are able to work through to 60 years - 5 years MORE than the CX gentlemen.
I'm sure some of the Cathay guys who still hang around PPRuNe can further shoot your argument down.