Unfortunately for all Based crew, Cathay has the Paris model whereby they shut the place and give 40 plus families 10 weeks to move or leave. No compassion, even in the most extreme circumstances - just move to Hong Kong or sod off with three months notice.
Guess what - everybody moved! So now they have added that to their armoury. They did try to mitigate the Manchester problem by converting all Capts to RHS but that obviously didn't work. Now we hear that Etihad may take them all but I worry that (a) that will help not hurt Cathay and (b) the guys might be leaping from the frying pan into the fire.
Notwithstanding all the above, it's a truism that if, for any reason, a Base doesn't work out - even if it fails because of Cathay's appalling cheapskate setup schemes - they will close it at will and bring you all back to HKG on the most minimal terms or fire you. You have been warned!