It will be interesting to see if there is a clash of cultures when Dragonair is subsumed into the Swire empire. Dragonair has a clause in its SOP’s saying small variations in standard calls such as “Flaps/Flap” etc are quite acceptable. This was specially inserted into the SOP’s to thwart the pedants amongst us who in their enthusiasm may lose sight of what is important when getting from A to B in China.
Here is an indication of the future culture clashes perhaps - A Dragon pilot in uniform but not wearing his cap (pretty ops normal for KA guys) was approached in the Hong Kong terminal recently and asked in a very rude manner “Where’s your cap!” by a Cathay captain. A curt “What’s it to you?” response made the questioner realise he was not dealing with a Cathay pilot, and so he moved on.
Dragon pilots are a pretty belligerent lot, especially when it comes to not wearing our caps, so I wonder whether such bullies will back down after the buyout?