Monday..190 CX management jobs are to go immediately
 

CATHAY PACIFIC FIRST :}:}

https://cdn3.i-scmp.com/sites/defaul...itok=-4Pu8xK5"


Hong Kong?s Cathay Pacific to sack 600 staff amid major restructure | South China Morning Post

Cathay Pacific to sack 600 staff amid major restructure
 

Cathay Pacific is to shed almost 600 staff in the biggest round of job cuts by Hong Kong's flagship airline in 20 years, the South China Morning Post has learned.
Employees will be told that 190 management jobs are to go immediately and that a further 400 non-management staff will be cut by mid-June.
The cuts are the first step in a three-year programme announced earlier this year aimed at turning around losses at the airline. They also mark the first major task overseen by new chief executive Rupert Hogg, who replaced Ivan Chu Kwok-leung earlier this month.
The airline business - comprising Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon - has been hemorrhaging cash, losing HK$3 billion ($555 million) in the past year.
The company as a whole lost HK$575m ($106.5m) in the year, with better performances in other areas of the business - such as catering and its shareholding in Air China - offsetting the poor results from the airline.
Losses have mounted due to cheaper airfares and a slump in the number of passengers travelling in business class.
Rising competition from Middle East carriers and state-owned Chinese airlines has also taken a toll, as has the high price the company has had to pay for fuel after failing to anticipate a collapse in the price of oil.
The first round of redundancies would take effect this week with an additional round of cuts due later in the summer, two sources familiar with the plan said. As many as 800 job cuts were initially being considered as late as last week, they said.
No department would be spared from the broad review of staffing costs, productivity and efficiency, which would affect all employee levels, the sources said.
The most senior and middle-ranking managerial posts would be targeted first before the lower-ranking posts in areas where duplication and overlap exist.
The job cuts will go some way to reaching a 30 per cent cost reduction target at the airline's Cathay City headquarters in Hong Kong, that was specified under the programme.
As a whole the programme aims to save the company HK$4b over the three-year period.
One of the airline's major shareholders, Air China, has described the plan as "feasible".
Not since the era of the Asian financial crisis has Cathay Pacific cut so many staff in one swoop. In 1998, the airline dismissed about 800 employees.
Cathay employs 19,000 people based in Hong Kong. Not counting frontline staff, including pilots and cabin crew, that leaves 3,000 employees in a variety of head office functions.
Cathay declined to comment on the number of job losses.
"We announced recently that we are creating a new management structure, to be leaner, faster and better. But outside of what we have announced, no changes have been made yet," a spokeswoman for the airline said.
"There will be changes and, in due course, we will talk about them publicly. However, at the moment, our priority is talking with our people."
Savings from staff costs - HK$19.7b last year - could be tricky with the airline expected to add 1,300 cabin crew this year, while cutting management and costs at its headquarters.

From the NZHerald - 22-05-2917

I sometimes think the best thing would be to put this airline out of its misery. Shut it down. Although disruptive, it would probably result in hundreds, if not thousands of our pilots actually finding countries, careers and lives that would be happier, healthier and ultimately more satisfying. This airline corrodes the souls of most who stay here (ask me how I know....), and I am certain that, knowing what I now know, if I could go back to the early 90's again, I would have packed my bags and ran, not walked, to the nearest first-world country and established my career there. This airline has now reached rock bottom, and it will prove to be a graveyard of career hopes and aspirations. My 2c worth...

It's a Monday Morning Massacre...

Rumor has it Kitty City was in lockdown this morning, with busses ready to take home the poor jobless chaps and lasses who were unlucky enough to find an envelope on their desk upon clocking in.

Is anybody there to confirm?

My sympathies are with them. It can't feel very good being fired by those who ruined the company in the first place through irresponsible strategic decisions.

Not to twist the knife, but the savings they aim to make from the payroll by cutting so many heads is about hkd 4bn... Or about half of what they waste every year on their failed fuel hedge.
:mad:

Traf, I have been thinking the same thing. It's what is humane and you would do to a sick dog rather than see it suffer. This dog has cancer.

Today, is the beginning of the end. The next will be a sell off of assets. The management team of this company put us in this position and will now be taking it out on others. It will backfire on them. It will draw the ire of so many people in Hong Kong. This doesn't just affect 600 people but their families and friends. This company never realizes the consequences of their actions but I believe will this time.

If the CAD approves anything these morally and ethically corrupt people do then F*** the CAD!Enough already with CAD giving this company Carte blanche. It's unbelievable how much this company had gotten away with and continues to do so.

IT'S TIME TO LEAVE!

FU AT

It's a shock and awe campaign and I am afraid we will be next. They will attack our COS, housing, benefits, etc...If you fight, and we all must fight together or leave together, then you will be terminated I believe. Now some may see this as alarmist but it's what they do.

I give the airline two years and it will fold. The announcement today about the freighter operation, means they will be selling it off shortly. Europe freighter flying will be going in 2018 which means more bases will shut. Housing will go and you can come to HKG on the new package or be made redundant. It will solve their crewing problems. Old timers will be given a leave package. The airline will be filled with rather inexperienced people and then the accident will happen and game over. We are getting closer every fleet news letter.

The other thing is our passengers will loose faith and trust in the airline. Watching Bloomberg now and the news does not come over well. Watch the Friday newsletters for how bad our load factor goes. Then it will be "We need to do more"!

Folks, I hate to say this but it's OVER! Grab that life boat and get off Titanic!

FU RH

Hong Kong Airlines group will be glad for its new employees and their intimate knowledge of the Cathay systems. TTW CX

Not to mention the fanatical sense of injustice that will accompany them to HKA. Another 'own-goal' in the making by CX. The tragicomedy continues.

These,which are posts from another thread, are well said. Also, I would think staff at the airport might not be in the best mood today which will affect passengers. Keep in mind that a lot of families work at the airline and one may be employed while another gets sacked or possibly an entire family, say husband and wife, get sacked.

FU JS

This is what happens when a corporate entity exists solely to serve those at the top of the hierarchy. Employees, customers, shareholders and the general public are a secondary consideration to that of self-justifying higher management salaries and bonuses. They have well and truly killed the golden goose, and I fear that the airline has been structurally weakened to such an extent that the only future is one of shrinking size, layoffs, cuts and excuses, and ultimately either complete failure or at best bought out by a competitor (HKA?). If anyone here has the chance of a career nearly anywhere else, take it. I believe this will prove to be the turning point for a once great airline that has sadly been driven into the ground by greed, avarice, arrogance, incompetence and willful negligence.

It's quite stunning how incompetent our current management are. It's like watching an incestuous inbred family wonder why they have mentally retarded offspring. That is the Swire corporate philosophy. Because they only promote from within, they have lost the ability to think outside the box. They believe they are 'smarter' than those around them, in spite of nearly EVERY decision over the past decade being either illegal, ill-conceived, naive or laughably foolish (just ask the hedging company what they thought when CX signed the contract!). Because Swire have ultimate control of the company, they will not be able to accept that it is in fact they and their 'Princes' (:yuk:) that have in fact brought ruin to the company, it's employees and their families. It makes me sick to have watched this unfold. They should hang their heads in shame. I imagine not a single one of them is showing their faces at CX city today.

from the press release:

The majority of affected employees will be informed of changes or a cessation to their role today and over the next month, with most of the restructuring completed by the end of 2017. While no frontline employees, pilots or cabin crew will be affected by today’s announcement as the airlines continue to grow, they will be also be asked to deliver greater efficiencies and productivity improvements, in line with the rest of the organisation. Cathay Pacific will continue to invest in its frontline capabilities to deliver high-quality products and services to its customers.

And one of the directors who actually tried to make a difference, and allegedly was unhappy with the direction of TTW has now been re-organised out.

Haha. They will 'ask' me for 'greater efficiencies and productivity'!!. How about you fix your own failures, prejudices and inadequacies first? Every single problem in this airline is due to the epic failure of management. The pilots are hardworking, competent and loyal. It is the transient Swire grifters that have caused this decades long decline. Own that. And btw, I seem to recall being promised 25 yr housing the last time you came to me for 'productivity'. We gave you the productivity and you reneged on your side of the deal. The first requirement of ANY healthy relationship is trust. Guess what the management of this airline destroyed long ago? This company is doomed, and it's best that we all understand that as of today. And btw, I am truly relishing this fight, as I am personally disgusted, angry and fed up with the cabal of managers that have caused this disaster. Bring-it-on.

Hmm. I suspect that your comment of 'we' is actually 'you'. You are not a CX employee, and are only trying to take a dig. Obvious and transparent.

They will ask, We will say no (rightfully so), and that will be the catalyst to shrink the airline. All our fault.

Once again, the pilots want to hurt the company.

I think this is not repeated enough:

All of this drama is just grandstanding to distract from the FACT that this airline would have made close to US$ 1 BILLION in profits if it wasn't for a disastrous fuel hedging decision.

But management has to save face. So they blame competition, reducing yields, increasing operating costs, etc. Which are all true to an extent, but not enough to prevent this airline from making a profit, much less to excuse losing that much.

Any airline which faces difficulties will start looking to lean the operations side. If their woes were truly of a systemic nature, they would be deferring airplanes, closing down money-losing routes, consolidating frequencies on others, laying off operational staff (pilots and F/As) which cost a lot more than ground staff by their sheer numbers.

CX might be claiming they've encountered a bit of headwind, but the reality is that they are STILL receiving airplanes on schedule, they are STILL opening new routes, they are NOT laying off any of the operational staff since the airplanes are still flying and the punters are still coming, in fact they will be HIRING over 1000 flight attendants next year, and pilot recruitment continues unabated.

So far, all they've done is coming up with a corporate feel-good mumbo-jumbo that's very short on substance, and laying off office workers.

They might try as hard as they can to cover their massive f*ckup under lame excuses of increased competition, but the numbers and the facts do not lie.

This business would still be making money hand over fist if it wasn't for tragically poor decision from the upper levels of management, who don't seem to be willing to admit to any fault given how little the words 'fuel hedging' appear on any of the official communications, despite the fact that it is, by the very basic law of arithmetic, and by far the biggest burden on this airline.

In short, the employees and the shareholders are all paying for a massive management f*ckup despite what they are frantically trying to hide under a thick layer or bullcrap.
:D

Standby for bonuses all around.

I do wonder how they look themselves in the mirror. What must it be like to be engaged in a role where you know you are out of your depth, incompetent, arrogant and almost certainly making decisions that are self-aggrandizing, cynical and likely to hurt the majority of employees. Oh, I forgot, it's because you shuffle money into your own bank account at the cost of those who actually do their jobs properly.

Great post YM! That pretty much sums it up.

And to add to YM's post: when the company comes looking for us to 'sacrifice' and produce concessions, remember what YM has just said; everything the company is telling you is distorted lies, it's all crap, every word of it. A strong resolve and an emphatic "NO". That is what you will get from us AT.

Well said Yonosoy:D

Christ you had one really bad year, bad fuel hedging decisions seem mostly responsible. Look around the world though, for decades in the US for example all the major airlines barely stayed afloat and every one went through bankruptcy.


Billions and billions were lost.



Cathay is still sitting on a gold mine with one of the best locations in the world, a superb franchise and still a very good name, you're not going out of business.


A readjustment is necessary but the profits will be back I guarantee you.

BS
 

Hmmm...they even lie in their Press Releases...they just cannot help themselves.

I am sure there are 35 Pilots in Manchester whose lives are being very dramatically changed by these idiots decisions.:mad:

Stilton, you need to work here to appreciate just how malevolent and toxic the management of this airline are. Unless you do, best you simply ponder the comments of those of us who are subject to the chaos that their decisions bring.

Shilton.

Everything is relative.You are used to that re-curing crap -good for you.

On the other hand, we are Cathay.

Even when they make money, they cry poor and hard done by. The only ones to benefit from the self induced delusional misery are the upper level managers - they get pay rises and bonuses on the backs of those that lose their jobs.

And even if these drastic steps are deemed to be truly necessary, they can still make a complete hash of actioning them. A constant drip feed of non information with very little detail and so leaving thousands still unsure of their future for many months to come.

The "management" have had a minimum of 5 months to come up with a plan and now they allegedly have it they are apparently not in a position to implement it in one single, albeit awful step and get on with it. I really hope soemone takes the opportunity to talk with the assembled media at CX today, never mind referring them (the media) to the clowns behind this tradgedy.

Has anyone heard if any checkers have had the sack?

My balance in stock finally rises by 3%, so sweet! I hope they can sack $ome more.

staff being hired should prepare being un-hired.

Has anyone heard of any changes to FOP or any prominent people gone?

a370. If you are not CX, then your comment is somewhat worthless. Only those intimately involved understand what has really gone down over the years. So, as they say, FO.

So... 190 people gets fired and another 400 coming in June... that's almost 600 people and their families affected!!
pilots and flight attendants wont get annual bonuses this year because the airline suffered a loss (fair enough).
So how is it justified that the former CEO and current CEO and most of the management get over 10MIL HKD in their bonuses??
you give yourselves 10million dollars plus as a "pat on the back, job well done" while firing 30% of your company??

That's messed up

Messed up? No, that's obscene, but it is the result of obscene decisions by shameless and obscene people. As a matter of fact, there aren't words to accurately describe the abomination that is CX/Swire management.

What's Missing
 

"Losses have mounted due to cheaper airfares and a slump in the number of passengers travelling in business class."

What? Even the SCMP tows the CX BS (don't talk about the war) line !!

What about the BILLION's US$ in hedging losses, what about the 100's of MILLIONS US in fines for fines for price fixing/collusion etc. ?? The list goes on Ad nauseam !!

Head in the sand (deep)

I keep repeating this and I still 100% stand by it's premise.. from CEO's to Directors and certainly to FOP management ---

"The Peter Principle", Google it

...but in the early 90's it was the airline of choice for pilots worldwide with massive pay packages...hard to predict what it would be like 25 years down the line.

Like I've said previously in another thread; I'll bet my last buck (Euro) that they will "technically" screw this process up and not use this opportunity to make CX a better and more profitable company.
Answer this, what is the most inefficient and continually mismanaged enterprise "world wide" , answer - pick ANY government entity. So what would they do in this scenario? They would lay these poor souls off in reverse seniority. What this means is they would NOT vet and keep the "best" and possibly brightest people and only and keep the most senior (entrenched) and possibly worst of the lot and likely the ones most responsible for the mismanagement and poor performance. Tell me I'm wrong !!

This is exactly what has happened to CX over the years - true from top to bottom..

A sad sad day....

Fat Lady Singing
 

Dan, that's not a nice remark about Adelle.

Like I've said previously in another thread; I'll bet my last buck (Euro) that they will "technically" screw this process up and not use this opportunity to make CX a better and more profitable company.
Answer this, what is the most inefficient and continually mismanaged enterprise "world wide" , answer - pick ANY government entity. So what would they do in this scenario? They would lay these poor souls off in reverse seniority. What this means is they would NOT vet and keep the "best" and possibly brightest people and only and keep the most senior (entrenched) and possibly worst of the lot and likely the ones most responsible for the mismanagement, decay and poor performance of the company. Tell me I'm wrong !!

This is exactly what has happened to CX over the years - true from top to bottom..

A sad sad day....

190 Management to Go ??
 

We all sit back and watch this plan unfold scoffing at the implied "sincerity" of these actions by management and of course they look at us and query our scepticism. I wonder why.
After "management" gets caught fixing prices and colluding with other airlines, guess who has to write an annual exam on bribery and corporate security issues? Certainly NOT the senior managers/directors responsible...

And yet, on the conflict of interest issue, guess who is the point person CX brought in to oversee this entire process. The spouse of an FOP Manager - no conflict of interest there right ??????? :=:=

"Losses have mounted due to cheaper airfares and a slump in the number of passengers travelling in business class."

Whoever wrote that hasn't studied very many Cathay loadsheets......