If someone is more qualified than a local, why shouldn't he get in? Please don't say that it's a huge conspiracy and expats were being chosen over local people, the expats that got into the Ab-initio program got in because they were better that the other candidates, if an expat is more qualified than a local then the expat should get the job no?
Sabotaging your flying dream? You've gotta be kidding me right. What about those LOCAL before the Immigration ruling? did it not sabotage their dream as well? Being born in this place hoping to join the flag carrier but realizing more than half of its cadets are expatriates.
No it didn't sabotage their dream, why is it a problem if half the cadets are expats? If they are more qualified than the local candidates then what is the problem? It wasn't sabotage rather an increase in competition, if you're good enough then you should be able to get in, the cadet program is not an easy pass to becoming a pilot and the job should go to the best candidate.
I think the reason why they claimed they didn't have enough number of qualified local cadets was that the old ICAO test killed off a large portion of supply (You know why....). Now this problem is gone and everything back to the right track, great!
English is the language of aviation, it is also the main language spoken at cathay if you don't speak it very well then you're going to struggle, even ICAO level 4 is a bit on the iffy side when working for an airline like Cathay. Again it's about qualifications if an expat speaks better English than a local then what is the problem.
Cathay becoming an only local airline? Highly doubtful, firstly its run by swire which is an English company and secondly there simply aren't enough candidates to do it, qualified pilots or qualified cadets.
I was born and raised in Hong Kong, you guys just need to stop viewing it as 'our' cadet program and start realizing that there are other people out there who want it just as much as you or even more and that if you are not as qualified as an expat you should not get the job.