There's already a Cathay forum and has been for years - it's simply invisible to you.
Died a death long ago as folks moved over to the AOA one.
10 seconds for me to get it running again but a lot of initial effort needed by one or two of you to vet applicants and give them access. There's then a continuing requirement to moderate and keep granting access after the initial uptake.
Private forums generally have a poor history here. The vast majority never hit anything like critical mass. Only one in 7 registered users ever make posts on the public forums and it's even less than that on private ones, especially if there are other alternative venues. This is especially true where there is a union based company forum available such as Balpa. Danny and I find this immensely satisfying actually because back in 1995 we offered Balpa the entire PPRuNe concept and they told us it could never work.
Nevertheless I've made the Cathay forum visible in the main forums list to prove there's no indolence on our side and that you're not being patronised. It's there, it's ready to roll again but you really do need to think it through.
The background, simmering level of internal paranoia within any company is usually the yardstick for the success or failure of private forums. A few moments looking at the number of posts and recency for the other private forums will be illuminating.
Regards
Rob