perspective?
tied in with what misu11 said in #42 - i hav always thought CX limited the CPP for 2 reasons:
1- a local will stick with the company even if the contract terms r under par, simply because their roots are in hk. a BBC,CBC,ABC with id, and now, the rest of the world, i am not sure if they would stick it out here for that long once they got the hours n become very employable. hence, locals (cheap, more exploitable), expat (less 'loyal' to the airline.)
2- good publicity/ the image of giving something back.
and for the above reasons i believe CX would ALWAYS prefer a local if they meet their standard - they would not want to open it up to the rest of the world unless its absolutely necessary, programs like the CPP (all paid for) are almost unique in the world, one can imagine the extra manpower to process all the applications. in my opinion it complicates everything for CX, but just as hard, if not more difficult, to seive out the right people.
however, eventually the economy will pick up and they will need good pilots to fill those seats who will uphold CX's standards. Yes there r lots of people interested in aviation in hk - but probably just a tiny portion of them meet CX's standards - as a local myself - i think its down to the following:
1. english
2. personality
3. passion/ interest
from wt i observed, which may well prove to be wrong - there maybe lots of local candidates out there who has 2+3, or even just lots and lots of 3, but none of the others. some may have 1+2, but if they had those abilities in HK, they probably have laid their eyes on something else already. if you take away the groups mentioned above, CX really isn't left with many to choose from. therefore i think CX opened up the CPP primary to make up the numbers + short-mid term cheap workforce. local + able candidates is their holy grail. so ... for abt the zillionth time - heads up guys - particularly locals - if u r gd enough - U WILL MAKE IT!