The slow recovery is staged by management to restrict capacity so demand out strips seat availability allowing them to gouge the ticket price for a bit longer. It also keeps shareholders happy because the data can be arranged to show load factors in excess of 95%. Plus revenue per ASK is the highest is ever been. It conveniently covers up the fact they don't have the crew for rapid expansion and it neatly gives them time to train. It's all smoke and mirrors. So if your holding out for big improvements to POS 18, think again.

Under POS18, the company sets minimum hours (adjusted at the sole discretion of the company) before air crew earn any extra pay. Each fleet have different hour target.

For the freight guys in particular, they increased the minimum hours so the take home pay for the same amount of hours worked is reduced.

There is a consensus that the company will, over the years will increase the minimum hours to 84 hours so aircrew costs will remain low.

Cathay is the same as every other publicly listed company. They report regularly to their owners, which includes me and millions of other share holders. This includes daily passengers carried and load factors from which seating capacity can be calculated and compared to the 2019 figures, also publicly available.

This week their seating capacity varied between 16 and 20% of 2019 levels. Essentially it will require a doubling of passenger flying in the next 5 weeks to meet their one third target. They won’t get close. That’s with current crew numbers. What’s not publicly available is a seniority list that continues to require less ink each month despite weekly communication updates naming fresh recruits.

CX only cares about one minor shareholder, and that’s Swire. What Swire wants CX will do, the other minor shareholders and it’s not always in the best interest of the company.

When it comes to the AGM and the election of Directors, it’s all Swire swine that’s only available for election and their loyalty will always be Swire.

You’ve completely missed the point. Was just putting some publicly available current statistics into the discussion rather than veryoldchinahand’s story about his upcoming booking to the gay Mardi Gras.

Having said that, when was the last time you read the tea leaves? Do you even work for cx? If you do it means Beijing (second biggest cx shareholder) has given you the ok to appear on a cx GD. From early next year neither the CEO or COO will be Swire. There’s virtually no Swire management remaining.

You might like to look a little more closely at the timetable and tell the full story, instead of spinning BS. CX is scheduled to operate three flights to SYD on two days per week in Feb, and on one of those days it’s actually operating four flights. On every other day, it’s operating one or two flights.

I can explain it to you.
But I can not understand it for you.
There’s a reason this is a pilots forum.

MDRT22, Ask your Uncle "What happened to Dragon". Then research whether or not your contract could be changed "from time to time at the company discretion". If you can live with that then, fill your boots.

Holy Smokey. This is so depressing! After you have invested in so much time and effort in the training process and getting all your licenses and you still have to work to the minimum hours??! This is such an insult. No wonder why so many unhappy pilots have left. My uncle would have done the same if he was still alive...
Thanks for the explanation! Appreciated.

I would have asked my uncle if I could, but I can't. He passed away few years ago due to some health issue unfortunately.
Honestly, I'm really interested in being a pilot. My uncle taught me a little bit about flying when we were traveling and I love it. I really enjoy the whole process, so he adviced me to join Dragonair not Cathay because of the work nature and the culture, but I ended up choosing Uni over the cadet opportunity because I think God for bid if something happen I still have a Degree to fall back on.

I'm 24 now working in banking industry, I am making 50K/month plus around 20K incentives, so takes home roughly about 70K, thanks to my recruiter who fought hard for me! My recruiter also said to me there is a massive room for me to growth, if I work hard, I could receive a promotion in 6 months, and my salary will also goes up to 60K or more. Now, after somebody told me, oh you can't fly if you are a Second Officer because of license restriction, you have to wait for 3/4/5 years before they allow you to touch the stick, and it is not guarantee, plus, the minimum hours, the productivity hours... I am like, so I have to invest so much energy and time just to sit here and watch somebody to fly and at the same time keep tracking with my hours to make sure I meet their requirement? Hell No. I am not stupid!

But thank you so much for the input. You guys really help me to make my decision. Much appreciated!

I was reading an article about a stripper in Vegas and her take home pay.

She was pulling in more than a CX FO, working less hours and didn’t have to open an Instagram account or lie on her back…

And the best part was she didn’t have to accept some piece of crap document with whiteout all over it telling her things were changing.

In your current role you have leverage, the harder you work the more you make. As a pilot you have zero leverage, if you work hard and are a good operator you get nice scores on some report cards but you don’t make more unless you get upgraded or go into training. As a pilot your job is to not mess up, that’s it.

MDRT22 as a long time pilot in the airline world, now retired, my advice would be to stick to the banking profession/industry now. If you have potential, get into M&A and with a combination of very hard work and 18 hour days for a year or two, you might just get to be able to buy your own airline. You'll most probably trade an airline, which can be a lot of fun too.

Then you can buy a decent aircraft for fun, and get a Netjets contract for the rest of the time.

I'm relating this story because a school friend of mine did exactly as above and he is on a vastly higher economic level than I am now. It is possible outside of the airline world to do the above, but it is not possible if you join an airline as a junior pilot and work up.

My 2c

The answer is right there in the photo, front and centre: "Ready to Strike"

Problem is, CX has the law on their side. They can and will sack whomever and whenever they want with ZERO consequences. Just like the sign or be fired COS18

It wouldn't be "zero consequences", they are severely understaffed. Sacking a bunch of people is not going to help their position one bit.

I'd say now IS the best time to strike. It is almost as if the disarray of the union has been manufactured somehow. Pity

If enough people were to strike en masse, it would definitely get a lot of attention. Particularly after all of the crap we have had to deal with in HK with both operating and living restrictions. If such action did take place, just like any other prisoner camp, examples would be certainly be made and the heads of a few would be chopped to scare the rest in submission and compliance. But I would wager that this is something most people would probably be willing to do now. Because 'F%#k it.', right?

Problem is, our union is not just weak but actually comical at this point.

:}
Thats the funniest thing I'll read today.
The chances of the people who have been treated like sh!t and yet stayed with this toxic company, striking is zero. So many opportunities in the aviation market today.
You've made your bed, now lie in it.
Sure, blame the union. What a pissweak excuse though.

The union is in disarray for one purpose, to look after the old boys club. The chairman is in cahoots with Soliglio and all they are trying to do is get jobs for the boys at your expense. Those who oppose this plan are being brushed aside.

Ask yourself why you pay for membership? In unity my arse! Here it’s every man for himself.