IFB
 

Hi IFB,
A belated welcome to your second career - hope the RAF or RAAF or USAF was fun and that the training your received at the taxpayers expense is still up to the excellent standards we expect. Sure that the accrued retirement benefits are also of some comfort in this harsh world.

Now you are 5 years into your professional career, it seems as though you are actually not reflecting the "glass half full" position but rather "the sky i falling" Chicken Little position. If you take you position that many other pilots - some of which you know - are facing redundancy and pay cuts as a reason for the professional pilots at this successful airline not to protect and advance their careers then you will never see any improvement over your career.
I have been in the airlines for over 3 decades and can say, without fear of contradiction that there are always airlines that are facing financial pressures and pilots that are facing the prospect of changing jobs. Cathay Pacific has always used these financially stressed airlines as a ready source of highly trained professional pilots - just ask your colleagues on the flight deck where they worked before.

If you take your position to its logical conclusion then the professional pilot group will never see an improvement in terms and conditions for the rest of their careers because there will always be some group or airline that is facing a financial meltdown - even in "good times", often because of strategic decisions made outside of their control - e.g. Swissair which was driven into the ground (financially) because of the desire of the CEO and board to acquire other airlines in a business plan that was flawed - Sabena, Air Limoges and the other regional airlines that Swissair acquired lead to the failure of the parent company even when other airlines were making hay in the sunshine times.

The success of Cathay Pacific has been generated over the past 60+ years by a combination of factors - good location, good political connections, cheap local support labour, excellent standards, almost monopolistic market conditions, minimalist regulation and labour laws which have been ignored or barely respected in the past (see Cartel prosecutions and Labour Department findings against the company), excellent reactions to the major changes in market conditions, etc. All of these factors have generated massive returns for the original investors, shareholders and also used to provide excellent terms and conditions for the professional pilots who moved their families for a hardship posting in the Far East.

You will say that we have moved on and you are perfectly correct - HK is no longer a hardship posting and it is no longer necessary for a new joiner to have 10-15 years experience BUT the correction to the terms and conditions for new joiners more than recognises the change in entry requirements. Cathay Pacific has continued to benefit from rumours of being the best paid pilots in the world - something that has been a dream for a couple of decades now.

I would recommend that you consider what is in the best long term interest of both your ex-colleagues and yourself and family. Do you honestly believe that a massively profitable company like Cathay Pacific reducing the wages for its professional pilots is going to help your ex-colleagues regain their long term, career earnings potential? Someone has to be the leader and that is best to be the the group that is best able to afford it. Don't ask BA or United to be the pace setters when they have financial difficulties.

If you wish to raise the issue of some pilots in the world being financially hurt at the moment, the best thing you can do is to support them and to support the improvement in terms and conditions for the professional pilots in the successful airlines around the world which will give your friends the ability and choice to move to improve their families' prospects.

May you have a long, successful and well remunerated career at one of the most profitable airlines in the world.

FF

A little jealousy in your tone perhaps. Did you fail the RAAF selection? :)

Anyone leaving the military these days will have more than "paid back" the cost of their training! Some of my friends didn't live long enough to move on to civil aviation. And the bush flying/GA route has also claimed it's fair share of casualties along the way. No one has an easy ride to CX or any other airline.

Although I hate what the company has done to us with all this SLS BS, I can see that we're probably better off than the rest of his ex Air Force mates. Doesn't make it right.

FF

Broadly agree with everything you say. Certainly I want improvements to our circumstances and as I said in my first post on this thread, CX has done many things in the past that I totally disagree with/upset me. For me however SLS payback is a standalone issue and on that basis I think that overall they have done the right thing. That is not to say that I agree with their handling of 13th month, profit share or various other issues.

As stated in my previous post, I do feel the 10% witholding was petty, But as a hypothetical question, if the witholding threshold had been for level E only do you believe there would still be this outcry at how all the managers had been unfaily treated?

For me the simple fact is that in the worst reccesion since the great depression to be given 4 weeks additional leave at a cost of less that 3 days pay seems a reasonable deal. I guess many on this forum would not agree with that. However, I would be interested to know how those same indiviuals would answer the following question:-

If a new COS came out tomorrow offering an additional 4 weeks leave every year for less than a .85% pay cut would you take it?

IFB

Who is going to run this show in the long run?
 

Guys I just want to remind u. Air China owns 1/3 of CX.
They will be buying Shenzhen Airlines and don't think that Swire won't tie up with them somehow.

Swire are slowly moving into a management position for CX/Dragon/Air China Cargo/Air HK/Shezhen AL etc. We will be working for the Chinese in the long run. We need to hold on to every benefit we got. Swire Managers are going to become every greedy (cutting as much as they can) for their bonuses in the next 5yrs. As their loyal for their staff & team disapate. They have already sold off Haeco. (That's alot of future profits gone from CX)

Anyway, its up to us Pilots & our trainers & Chief Pilots to lead the way in fighting to maintain the professialism of this airline. Other staff memebers won't see this coming.


Air China rises 13pc on plans to raise funds

Shares in Air China (SEHK: 0753, announcements, news) rose as much as 13 per cent after the carrier announced plans to raise 6.5 billion yuan (HK$7.38 billion) through a private share placement to beef up its balance sheet.

The news came after its bigger rival, China Southern Airlines, said it was seeking to raise more than 10 billion yuan from issuing new shares to 10 specific shareholders this week.

Shares in Air China closed 11.1 per cent up at HK$7.52 yesterday.

Several analysts said the market had reacted positively to the fund-raising news because it could increase the Beijing-based carrier's liquidity and help it with potential merger and acquisition plans.

"A stronger financial position will enhance Air China competitiveness and help fulfil its ambition to be an industry consolidator," Citigroup said in a report.

Air China is in a dogfight with China Southern over a controlling stake in Shenzhen Airlines. Air China is seen as having the edge after its vice-president Fan Cheng was appointed Shenzhen Air's acting president on March 6 following the arrest of the previous president.

A report from Daiwa Capital Markets said Air China's net asset value per share would increase to 3.08 yuan from 2.69 yuan. The brokerage house has increased the target price to HK$8.19 from HK$7.16.

After repaying bank loans, the carrier's net debt to equity ratio would fall to 1.3 times from 1.8 times, which is in line with leaders like British Airways, Lufthansa and Cathay Pacific Airways (SEHK: 0293), the Citigroup report said.

Cathay, which owns 18.1 per cent of Air China, will have its stake diluted to 17.1 per cent after the share placement. However, analysts expect Cathay to seek to raise its Air China stake in the future. Cathay could potentially find ways to subscribe to some of the new shares to retain or increase its stake to a maximum limit of 25 per cent, a JP Morgan report said.

Air China holds a 29.9 per cent stake in Cathay at present.

The carrier plans to issue 585 million A shares at not less than 9.58 yuan per share to 10 specific shareholders, including its parent, China National Aviation Holding Company, and 157 million H shares at not less than HK$6.62 apiece to a subsidiary of its parent. The shares subscribed to by the parent are subject to a 36-month lock-up period, and other investors are subject to a lock-up period of 12 months.

Shares in Cathay closed 1.03 per cent down at HK$15.32 yesterday.