Hongkonger takes top job at Cathay
 

Hongkonger takes top job at Cathay

Cathay Pacific Airways will again have a Hong Kong-born chief executive in March when Ivan Chu Kwok-leung takes up the position.

It has been seven years since the top job at the city's biggest airline was last filled by a Hongkonger. Chu, 51, is also one of the youngest Cathay chiefs ever.

Chu joined the airline as a management trainee in 1984 after graduating from the University of Hong Kong. He has been chief operating officer since 2011.

Chief executive John Slosar will succeed Christopher Pratt, 57, who will retire in March as chairman of the carrier and its parent, Swire Pacific, as well as John Swire & Sons (HK) and Swire Properties.

The easygoing and media-friendly Chu was the public face of Cathay when the airline encountered occasional, severe service disruptions while he was director of service delivery before 2011.

Slosar, 57, joined the Swire Group in 1980 and was appointed managing director of Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering in 1996. From 1998 to 2007, he was managing director of Swire Beverages. He was named chief operating officer of Cathay in 2007, and then chief executive in 2011.

Slosar told the South China Morning Post that one similarity between running a fast-moving consumer goods business and an airline was creating an urge in the customer to return.

He pioneered the premium economy class in Cathay and executed the plan to replace the infamous business-class seats in a fishbone layout with the award-winning new business-class seats.

Pratt joined the Swire Group in 1978 and has been chairman in Hong Kong since February 2006. His retirement had been rumoured in the company for a while, and it had been speculated that Slosar was the front runner to succeed him.

SCMP. 17/08/2013

Also a Beijing loyalist no doubt :ugh:

Hong Konger?
 

I'm sure all CX CEO's since 1997 were Hong Kong Permanent residents with Right of Abode.

So to be a "Hong Konger" do you need to be one or all of the following?

1. HKSAR Passport Holder - some non-chinese have this
2. HK Permanent Resident - many non-chinese have this
3. Ethnically chinese - many ethnic chinese do not have 1 or 4
4. Born in HKG - some non-chinese have this
5. Hong Kong state of mind :O

Not wanting to turn this into a thread with racial overtones - just a discussion on the SCMPs "Hong Konger" terminology and what makes a "Hong Konger" in this international city. SCMP's article seems a little parochial.

A CX CEO P.D !
 

To be CEO of CX one must be anointed by a Swire Prince, one must have done a significant amount of time within the group prior to being made CEO.
The individual must have proved themselves capable of receiving massive pay packets and bonuses by keeping the peasants wages low, by trimming peasant numbers where applicable and also said CEO must have proved himself willing and able to tongue Swire sphincters on command. Any newly appointed CEO of CX must also have preconceived ideas about Pilots, and the CEO must have sociopathic tendencies which include the desire to ruin a pilots life and career at any cost. And don't forget that any CEO must have experience with forming and executing a Star Chamber at a moments notice, at the behest of a Swire Prince, so one must stay on call 24/7.

Any new CEO must also be prepared and willing to recall to mind, one day in the future these words 'with responsibility comes accountability'.

You have obviously missed Peter Sutch's reign.:rolleyes:

Oh yes Hotdog, a name from the past, it has been Sutch a long time but yet the name still rings a Swire bell. A man of immense stature, power and authority, a man who appreciated the role of the Pilot and did all he could to highlight Cathays most valuable assets. A man who almost got knighted with eternal rulership within the Swire Kingdom, but alas fell short, proved to be immortal unlike his Lords, and the rest became history. However, fear not dear Skygods, as people like Sutch set the foundations of CX 2013, a management foundation built upon bonuses, fattened salaries, expensive cars and houses, star chambers and handjobs by Swire Kings.
All heil Prince Sutch.

Sutch is Corporate life. Get used to not being a part of it.

Mr Ken Barley had considered leaving Brisbane Australia and throwing his hat in the ring for the CEO position, but the housing package back in Hong Kong was sub standard and only suitable for pilots. Plus it meant he would be some distance away from former Star Chamber Lieutenant, The Screaming Skull, who is also situated in Brisbane Australia.
It is rumoured that both men meet regularly at various locations around Brisbane and drink lemon tea together, discuss the good ol days and compare the size of their former bonuses, and the size of each others willy. In fact on a sunny day both can be found doing crosswords and acrostics, and each time the word spelt out is SWIRE.
They are sorely missed by Messrs Rhodes, Tyler and Chen, who themselves are worthy candidates of being 'mounted' on a wall in H/O with captions of 'Manager Of The Year' etc, in recognition and honour for the profits they brought to the Swire kingdom and the way that they acted transparently, caring, honestly and with responsibility toward the pilot group.

'With responsibility came accountability'