Cathay Pacific & Air Hong Kong News

[Po Boy]

Monday April 22, 5:23 am Eastern Time
Hong Kong Cathay Pacific To Take Over Some Air Hong Kong Routes

HONG KONG -(Dow Jones)- Cathay Pacific Airways (H.CPA) announced Monday plans to take over some of the routes and fleet run by its Air Hong Kong unit.

As part of a restructuring of Cathay's wholly-owned cargo unit, Air Hong Kong will discontinue service to Brussels , Manchester, U.K. and Dubai effective July 1 to focus on routes in Asia. Air Hong Kong will also return two of three 747- 200 freighters leased from Cathay.

Cathay plans to launch cargo services to Brussels and Manchester if it wins approval. It already serves Dubai .

Cathay said no jobs will be lost at Air Hong Kong , though a number of its staff will be offered jobs at Cathay as part of the restructuring.

Cathay currently operates nine freighters as well as 66 passenger aircraft, which also ship cargo.

The airlines said the move is aimed at greater efficiency as they take advantage of economies of scale.

"The air cargo market is very competitive and it's always our objective to increase company efficiency," said Kenny Tang, Cathay's general manager for cargo. "Increasing capacity in Cathay Pacific's cargo fleet will help position the airline to take advantage of the upturn in business and better serve customers in Europe, the Middle East and North America."

[Sick]

would air hong kong guys keep their rank on going across to Cathay?

[raitfaiter]

So let me get this right, two classics out of three returned from AHK, two of the four CX classics rotting in Oz, crew overhang from previously redundant CX crews (who have a legal right to all CX jobs in order of seniority) but no redundancies........:( :confused:

[HotDog]

What is going to happen to AHK flight ops. managment, ie. DFO, CP, Chief check and training capt, Chief flight engineer etc.?

[raitfaiter]

Frankly Scarlett........:D :p :D

[HotDog]

Well, I do give a damn . They are a decent bunch of guys.:mad:

[raitfaiter]

I notice from the original post that there is no mention of any AUS flights. I understand from the letter that one AHK a/c is going to be kept to service the KIX schedule, but the other two will be painted in CX livery, and be put on the Dubai-brussels-man route....any more gen on this?

[coanda]

The first of AHK 747-200 will be painted in CX livery on 9th May, the second on 1st June. The third aircraft will be returned to CX as soon as a wet-lease has been put in place for AHK on the HKG-KIX-ICN-HKG route.

AHK will then become a small-midsize cargo operator within the Asian region. - They will service all the new DHL express parcel routes that will start out of CLK in the coming year, as well as their own routes.

AHK is crewed by a mixture of ASL, VETA and USAB crew (all 100% owned by CX) - most of the recent command upgrades have been from mainline 'B' scale fo's moving up the ladder. - ASL no longer recruit crew and any new joiners will start with CX Cargo employed by VETA or USAB. (This has been the policy since 1st Jan 2000)

All combined crew in CX Cargo will then undergo a short differences course (AHK aircraft are GE powered - CX Cargo are RR) to enable all crew to fly all aircraft on any of CX Cargo routes.

Thats all for now.

As for the management team at AHK - understand most will be going across to CX Cargo after the last 747-200 has been returned.

[Pontious]

Do pilots wishing to join Cathay Cargo apply to VETA or Cathay Pacific Airways? The only recruitment the CPA website mentions is for Cadet Pilots.Are VETA/Cathay Cargo recruiting at the moment or in the forseable?
Answers on a postcard to...........
Thanks in advance,guys.

[Phragrant Fella]

Pontius

With respect

The situation between pilots and mgt is tense in FH....VERY TENSE. Do spend some time reviewing previous posts on the subject.

Do not walk into a situation that was worse than the ASL debacle of 96. It is probably pretty accurate to say that there will be stacks of jobs coming up with the predicted expansion in HKG and you would be well advised to be patient and wait. Even now we don't know who will be manning the regional freighters when it kicks off.

Please do not walk away from a job until the lousy mess has been swept up out here and the floors disinfected ready for a fresh start.

[s.lindburgh]

all,
this is most interesting, I would not want to be the first to say it but........................... the plot thickens I think........

lindburgh

[Pontious]

Thanks for the tip PF. I wasn't really interested in the regional freighter side, I used to fly freight in my previous life and fancy a return to it due to huge disillushionment with my current employer which is entirely pax. ops.
I've watched the AHK and Dragonair ops in and out of MAN for about a year now and they always seem to be on time,uncomplicated ops with no ridiculously early morning starts.
I just wouldn't mind flying a 747Classic freighter based out of Europe to the Far East.That narrows the options down a tad.
Anybody else have any tips or pointers?
Thanks in advance,
Pontious.