Cathay Pacific imploding.
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So I ask again, how does the company now calculate your duty time doing online regulatory courses now they’ve removed the long standing practice of adding additional duty hours to your RT sessions?
While the old practice wasn’t perfect, it was something that had kept the company, the HKAOA and the CAD satisfied.
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https://gbcode.rthk.hk/TuniS/news.rt...6-20240110.htm
Cathay Pacific admitted on Wednesday that it had underestimated the number of pilots it needed in reserve to maintain its normal operations, leading to recent flight cancellations.
In a statement, the airline's chief operations and service delivery officer, Alex McGowan, regretted having to cancel flights at short notice, and acknowledged that it was failing to live up to the standard expected by customers.
“I would like to extend a sincere apology to our customers affected by recent travel disruptions. Over the Christmas and New Year period, we underestimated the number of reserve pilots we would need,” he said.
“Given our January pilot rosters were already set in mid-December, the lack of adequate reserve levels persisted into January. In order to stabilise the current operation, we needed to cancel further flights across the first two weeks of January.”
The airline said it has contacted affected passengers to offer alternative travel arrangements, usually within 24 hours of their original departure time.
Cathay said it has also cancelled additional flights on non-peak days until the end of February to ensure that all customers booked to fly during the peak Lunar New Year period between February 7 and 18 can travel as planned.
On average, 12 flights are cancelled each day. The peak was on January 7 when 27 flights were cancelled.
The airline assures that the number of cancellations will decrease in the coming weeks.
McGowan said he would lead a task force to identify and address the underlying issues to improve the airline's services.
Cathay Pacific admitted on Wednesday that it had underestimated the number of pilots it needed in reserve to maintain its normal operations, leading to recent flight cancellations.
In a statement, the airline's chief operations and service delivery officer, Alex McGowan, regretted having to cancel flights at short notice, and acknowledged that it was failing to live up to the standard expected by customers.
“I would like to extend a sincere apology to our customers affected by recent travel disruptions. Over the Christmas and New Year period, we underestimated the number of reserve pilots we would need,” he said.
“Given our January pilot rosters were already set in mid-December, the lack of adequate reserve levels persisted into January. In order to stabilise the current operation, we needed to cancel further flights across the first two weeks of January.”
The airline said it has contacted affected passengers to offer alternative travel arrangements, usually within 24 hours of their original departure time.
Cathay said it has also cancelled additional flights on non-peak days until the end of February to ensure that all customers booked to fly during the peak Lunar New Year period between February 7 and 18 can travel as planned.
On average, 12 flights are cancelled each day. The peak was on January 7 when 27 flights were cancelled.
The airline assures that the number of cancellations will decrease in the coming weeks.
McGowan said he would lead a task force to identify and address the underlying issues to improve the airline's services.
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Don't forget that in the last survey, "intention to stay" was at 48%, which the DFO saw as a positive point.
Nevermind that 52% are actively looking at other jobs.
Even a 30% pay raise wouldn't stop most from leaving, knowing well how the company can cut their contracts at will.
The problem is not a recruitment issue, it is a retention issue.
Give us our old contract (like any other airline in the world did) and maybe we'll talk.
Nevermind that 52% are actively looking at other jobs.
Even a 30% pay raise wouldn't stop most from leaving, knowing well how the company can cut their contracts at will.
The problem is not a recruitment issue, it is a retention issue.
Give us our old contract (like any other airline in the world did) and maybe we'll talk.
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Don't forget that in the last survey, "intention to stay" was at 48%, which the DFO saw as a positive point.
Nevermind that 52% are actively looking at other jobs.
Even a 30% pay raise wouldn't stop most from leaving, knowing well how the company can cut their contracts at will.
The problem is not a recruitment issue, it is a retention issue.
Give us our old contract (like any other airline in the world did) and maybe we'll talk.
Nevermind that 52% are actively looking at other jobs.
Even a 30% pay raise wouldn't stop most from leaving, knowing well how the company can cut their contracts at will.
The problem is not a recruitment issue, it is a retention issue.
Give us our old contract (like any other airline in the world did) and maybe we'll talk.
48% have intentions to stay, I would say 50% of them are new or recent joiners are too old to move on, married to a local and/or pure incompetent in operations, the remaining 50% are locals.
for the other 52% they want to leave but too scared to test the waters.
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Dear cygnet78,
I flew Cathay for 30 years. For three decades, I had a front row seat to a never ending stream of cost reduction measures that manifested themselves in two ways: constant cuts to pay and benefits, along with constant reductions to the standards of hiring and the training of pilots.
Pilot pay and benefits were constantly on the chopping block. It became a pattern of abuse. Every few years new contracts would be imposed in a sign or be fired campaign of intimidation. Inevitably, as the lower pay packages attracted fewer and fewer experienced pilots, recruitment quality standards were reduced. Bizarrely, managers boasted that the reduced standards still attracted top pilot talent….and so the cuts continued.
As well as the pay cuts, cost efficiencies were imposed on what used to be minimum training requirements, such as minimum crew experience levels and minimum crewing levels on long range and ultra long range flights. It was alarming to witness the constantly diminishing standard of pilot experience on the flight deck. Warnings to management were shrugged off.
Pilot’s flying rosters were also on the block and began to reflect an abusive interpretation of the required flight time limitations. By international convention, maximum flight time limitations are meant to be exercised only in the short term to deal with extreme and unforeseen circumstances (typhoon). Yet, in an effort to scrimp and save money, Cathay management began to roster pilots to the legal limit on a permanent basis. Every assigned flight pattern was stretched to the absolute legal limit. Rest patterns rostered between flights became the absolute bare minimum allowed by law. The outcome should have been predictable, unsustainable levels of pilot fatigue and burn out was the result.
Multiple warning letters from Senior Training Captains to management about these and other cost cutting safety concerns were ignored. The risks associated with diminishing safety standards were rubber stamped as acceptable safety risks by internal management review. All the while management would crow, without shame, that safety was their top priority (Orwellian).
The never ending spiral of cost cutting and poisonous intimidation succeeded in reducing what was once the best pilot job in the world…to a kafkaesque life of toxic intimidation, malaise and fatigue.
So after 30 years I had enough. I gave three months notice, packed up my family and left. A clerk oversaw my release and walked me to the door.
Cathay is indeed reaping what it has sowed.
I flew Cathay for 30 years. For three decades, I had a front row seat to a never ending stream of cost reduction measures that manifested themselves in two ways: constant cuts to pay and benefits, along with constant reductions to the standards of hiring and the training of pilots.
Pilot pay and benefits were constantly on the chopping block. It became a pattern of abuse. Every few years new contracts would be imposed in a sign or be fired campaign of intimidation. Inevitably, as the lower pay packages attracted fewer and fewer experienced pilots, recruitment quality standards were reduced. Bizarrely, managers boasted that the reduced standards still attracted top pilot talent….and so the cuts continued.
As well as the pay cuts, cost efficiencies were imposed on what used to be minimum training requirements, such as minimum crew experience levels and minimum crewing levels on long range and ultra long range flights. It was alarming to witness the constantly diminishing standard of pilot experience on the flight deck. Warnings to management were shrugged off.
Pilot’s flying rosters were also on the block and began to reflect an abusive interpretation of the required flight time limitations. By international convention, maximum flight time limitations are meant to be exercised only in the short term to deal with extreme and unforeseen circumstances (typhoon). Yet, in an effort to scrimp and save money, Cathay management began to roster pilots to the legal limit on a permanent basis. Every assigned flight pattern was stretched to the absolute legal limit. Rest patterns rostered between flights became the absolute bare minimum allowed by law. The outcome should have been predictable, unsustainable levels of pilot fatigue and burn out was the result.
Multiple warning letters from Senior Training Captains to management about these and other cost cutting safety concerns were ignored. The risks associated with diminishing safety standards were rubber stamped as acceptable safety risks by internal management review. All the while management would crow, without shame, that safety was their top priority (Orwellian).
The never ending spiral of cost cutting and poisonous intimidation succeeded in reducing what was once the best pilot job in the world…to a kafkaesque life of toxic intimidation, malaise and fatigue.
So after 30 years I had enough. I gave three months notice, packed up my family and left. A clerk oversaw my release and walked me to the door.
Cathay is indeed reaping what it has sowed.
Last edited by raven11; 10th Jan 2024 at 18:55.
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Dear cygnet78,
I flew Cathay for 30 years. For three decades, I had a front row seat to a never ending stream of cost reduction measures that manifested themselves in two ways: constant cuts to pay and benefits, along with constant reductions to the standards of hiring and the training of pilots.
Pilot pay and benefits were constantly on the chopping block. It became a pattern of abuse. Every few years new contracts would be imposed in a sign or be fired campaign of intimidation. Inevitably, as the lower pay packages attracted fewer and fewer experienced pilots, recruitment quality standards were reduced. Bizarrely, managers boasted that the reduced standards still attracted top pilot talent….and so the cuts continued.
As well as the pay cuts, cost efficiencies were imposed on what used to be minimum training requirements, such as minimum crew experience levels and minimum crewing levels on long range and ultra long range flights. It was alarming to witness the constantly diminishing standard of pilot experience on the flight deck. Warnings to management were shrugged off.
Pilot’s flying rosters were also on the block and began to reflect an abusive interpretation of the required flight time limitations. By international convention, maximum flight time limitations are meant to be exercised only in the short term to deal with extreme and unforeseen circumstances (typhoon). Yet, in an effort to scrimp and save money, Cathay management began to roster pilots to the legal limit on a permanent basis. Every assigned flight pattern was stretched to the absolute legal limit. Rest patterns rostered between flights became the absolute bare minimum allowed by law. The outcome should have been predictable, unsustainable levels of pilot fatigue and burn out was the result.
Multiple warning letters from Senior Training Captains to management about these and other cost cutting safety concerns were ignored. The risks associated with diminishing safety standards were rubber stamped as acceptable risks by internal management review. All the while management would crow, without shame, that safety was their top priority (Orwellian).
The never ending spiral of cost cutting and poisonous intimidation succeeded in reducing what was once the best pilot job in the world…to a kafkaesque life of toxic intimidation, malaise and fatigue.
So after 30 years I had enough. I gave three months notice, packed up my family and left. A clerk oversaw my release and walked me to the door.
Cathay is indeed reaping what it has sowed.
I flew Cathay for 30 years. For three decades, I had a front row seat to a never ending stream of cost reduction measures that manifested themselves in two ways: constant cuts to pay and benefits, along with constant reductions to the standards of hiring and the training of pilots.
Pilot pay and benefits were constantly on the chopping block. It became a pattern of abuse. Every few years new contracts would be imposed in a sign or be fired campaign of intimidation. Inevitably, as the lower pay packages attracted fewer and fewer experienced pilots, recruitment quality standards were reduced. Bizarrely, managers boasted that the reduced standards still attracted top pilot talent….and so the cuts continued.
As well as the pay cuts, cost efficiencies were imposed on what used to be minimum training requirements, such as minimum crew experience levels and minimum crewing levels on long range and ultra long range flights. It was alarming to witness the constantly diminishing standard of pilot experience on the flight deck. Warnings to management were shrugged off.
Pilot’s flying rosters were also on the block and began to reflect an abusive interpretation of the required flight time limitations. By international convention, maximum flight time limitations are meant to be exercised only in the short term to deal with extreme and unforeseen circumstances (typhoon). Yet, in an effort to scrimp and save money, Cathay management began to roster pilots to the legal limit on a permanent basis. Every assigned flight pattern was stretched to the absolute legal limit. Rest patterns rostered between flights became the absolute bare minimum allowed by law. The outcome should have been predictable, unsustainable levels of pilot fatigue and burn out was the result.
Multiple warning letters from Senior Training Captains to management about these and other cost cutting safety concerns were ignored. The risks associated with diminishing safety standards were rubber stamped as acceptable risks by internal management review. All the while management would crow, without shame, that safety was their top priority (Orwellian).
The never ending spiral of cost cutting and poisonous intimidation succeeded in reducing what was once the best pilot job in the world…to a kafkaesque life of toxic intimidation, malaise and fatigue.
So after 30 years I had enough. I gave three months notice, packed up my family and left. A clerk oversaw my release and walked me to the door.
Cathay is indeed reaping what it has sowed.
During the covid era I had 3 line checks, one with a “hard-a**”. At that point I didn’t care if I passed or failed or got sacked. I had enough with the company, the constant PCR/RAT testing, the quarantine down-route and back in HK and the endless forms. This carried on till I went for my command.
Even now as a commander, I’m unmotivated and couldn’t care less if we took more fuel, I met OTP or not ,,,,,,,
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Dear cygnet78,
I flew Cathay for 30 years. For three decades, I had a front row seat to a never ending stream of cost reduction measures that manifested themselves in two ways: constant cuts to pay and benefits, along with constant reductions to the standards of hiring and the training of pilots.
Pilot pay and benefits were constantly on the chopping block. It became a pattern of abuse. Every few years new contracts would be imposed in a sign or be fired campaign of intimidation. Inevitably, as the lower pay packages attracted fewer and fewer experienced pilots, recruitment quality standards were reduced. Bizarrely, managers boasted that the reduced standards still attracted top pilot talent….and so the cuts continued.
As well as the pay cuts, cost efficiencies were imposed on what used to be minimum training requirements, such as minimum crew experience levels and minimum crewing levels on long range and ultra long range flights. It was alarming to witness the constantly diminishing standard of pilot experience on the flight deck. Warnings to management were shrugged off.
Pilot’s flying rosters were also on the block and began to reflect an abusive interpretation of the required flight time limitations. By international convention, maximum flight time limitations are meant to be exercised only in the short term to deal with extreme and unforeseen circumstances (typhoon). Yet, in an effort to scrimp and save money, Cathay management began to roster pilots to the legal limit on a permanent basis. Every assigned flight pattern was stretched to the absolute legal limit. Rest patterns rostered between flights became the absolute bare minimum allowed by law. The outcome should have been predictable, unsustainable levels of pilot fatigue and burn out was the result.
Multiple warning letters from Senior Training Captains to management about these and other cost cutting safety concerns were ignored. The risks associated with diminishing safety standards were rubber stamped as acceptable safety risks by internal management review. All the while management would crow, without shame, that safety was their top priority (Orwellian).
The never ending spiral of cost cutting and poisonous intimidation succeeded in reducing what was once the best pilot job in the world…to a kafkaesque life of toxic intimidation, malaise and fatigue.
So after 30 years I had enough. I gave three months notice, packed up my family and left. A clerk oversaw my release and walked me to the door.
Cathay is indeed reaping what it has sowed.
I flew Cathay for 30 years. For three decades, I had a front row seat to a never ending stream of cost reduction measures that manifested themselves in two ways: constant cuts to pay and benefits, along with constant reductions to the standards of hiring and the training of pilots.
Pilot pay and benefits were constantly on the chopping block. It became a pattern of abuse. Every few years new contracts would be imposed in a sign or be fired campaign of intimidation. Inevitably, as the lower pay packages attracted fewer and fewer experienced pilots, recruitment quality standards were reduced. Bizarrely, managers boasted that the reduced standards still attracted top pilot talent….and so the cuts continued.
As well as the pay cuts, cost efficiencies were imposed on what used to be minimum training requirements, such as minimum crew experience levels and minimum crewing levels on long range and ultra long range flights. It was alarming to witness the constantly diminishing standard of pilot experience on the flight deck. Warnings to management were shrugged off.
Pilot’s flying rosters were also on the block and began to reflect an abusive interpretation of the required flight time limitations. By international convention, maximum flight time limitations are meant to be exercised only in the short term to deal with extreme and unforeseen circumstances (typhoon). Yet, in an effort to scrimp and save money, Cathay management began to roster pilots to the legal limit on a permanent basis. Every assigned flight pattern was stretched to the absolute legal limit. Rest patterns rostered between flights became the absolute bare minimum allowed by law. The outcome should have been predictable, unsustainable levels of pilot fatigue and burn out was the result.
Multiple warning letters from Senior Training Captains to management about these and other cost cutting safety concerns were ignored. The risks associated with diminishing safety standards were rubber stamped as acceptable safety risks by internal management review. All the while management would crow, without shame, that safety was their top priority (Orwellian).
The never ending spiral of cost cutting and poisonous intimidation succeeded in reducing what was once the best pilot job in the world…to a kafkaesque life of toxic intimidation, malaise and fatigue.
So after 30 years I had enough. I gave three months notice, packed up my family and left. A clerk oversaw my release and walked me to the door.
Cathay is indeed reaping what it has sowed.
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21 yrs for me Raven.
Did a stint on the JRC to try and change that mindset which turned out to be an absolute waste of my time.
When my offboarding process was complete I was told by a pimple faced clerk to “enjoy the rest of my life”
Whilst initially insulted by the flippancy of the comment I have since come to realise that maybe she knew more than she was letting on !
Ditto to all you have stated.
Did a stint on the JRC to try and change that mindset which turned out to be an absolute waste of my time.
When my offboarding process was complete I was told by a pimple faced clerk to “enjoy the rest of my life”
Whilst initially insulted by the flippancy of the comment I have since come to realise that maybe she knew more than she was letting on !
Ditto to all you have stated.
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Raven speaks with clarity and sadly its a clarity never picked up by managers, (small m intended). That the many managers are pilots themselves, is testament to where the greed of position and sycophantic promotion continues to prevail as a toxic wedge between the McGowan's of the world and the the cabal in Flight ops who show utter disrespect for those who shape the company..( small c intended). Cx breeds a certain type of hate and its a hate strangely unconnected to salary...and one not really evident in HKE or HKA..sad...
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Who knows?
All will be answered by the task force, made up exclusively by the incompetents who masterminded this mess, while excluding those who had been warning for months of the looming fiasco such as the Chairman of the HKAOA. But it would go against the Swire management model to have anyone but Yes men in the room.
As for CX being special in comparison to the Middle East airlines, look at the facts.
CX management claim their pilot contracts are competitive. No individual gets to decide what’s competitive and what isn’t. The market does. There is a steady flow of experienced pilots out of CX to the ME/Europe/Australia/US/Canada. The flow of experienced pilots from those regions to CX is virtually non-existent.
That’s how competitive the CX conditions are.
The only way the board will agree to a 30% pay rise is if the MPP was raised to 84 hours a month. So bye bye Productivity pay!
48% have intentions to stay, I would say 50% of them are new or recent joiners are too old to move on, married to a local and/or pure incompetent in operations, the remaining 50% are locals.
for the other 52% they want to leave but too scared to test the waters.
48% have intentions to stay, I would say 50% of them are new or recent joiners are too old to move on, married to a local and/or pure incompetent in operations, the remaining 50% are locals.
for the other 52% they want to leave but too scared to test the waters.
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More here...
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Not really, they’re much worse results than similar hub airlines posted a year ago when CX was deep in the red.
This years figures will be eclipsing.
ps, how much of that will you see? Surely 8-10 months to be equivalent to what went round last year, considering the atrocious basic salary you’re on.
pps, just in time for the Chinese house of cards to crumble (according to more or less everyone but yourself).
This years figures will be eclipsing.
ps, how much of that will you see? Surely 8-10 months to be equivalent to what went round last year, considering the atrocious basic salary you’re on.
pps, just in time for the Chinese house of cards to crumble (according to more or less everyone but yourself).
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Not really, they’re much worse results than similar hub airlines posted a year ago when CX was deep in the red.
This years figures will be eclipsing.
ps, how much of that will you see? Surely 8-10 months to be equivalent to what went round last year, considering the atrocious basic salary you’re on.
pps, just in time for the Chinese house of cards to crumble (according to more or less everyone but yourself).
This years figures will be eclipsing.
ps, how much of that will you see? Surely 8-10 months to be equivalent to what went round last year, considering the atrocious basic salary you’re on.
pps, just in time for the Chinese house of cards to crumble (according to more or less everyone but yourself).
That collapse is surely coming, any decade now……
Let's face it, the glory days are over - there’s always someone willing to do the job cheaper than you or I when we started out. how atrocious do you think the salary will be once single pilot / reduced pilot ops is the norm?
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