Rug.This is an anonymous forum for good reason.
I could ask you the same intrusive questions but would not dream of doing so nor would I expect any answer if I did.

That's a No.

Appreciate you taking the time to confirm - it's helpful to know you've no relevant knowledge of the issues here despite your implied tone of qualification on all matters Cathay. We can consider your posts accordingly.

Still is pretty amazing that crew are either leaving in the middle of a command course to start at the bottom again with a major elsewhere or leaving having just completed a command course at CX to start again at the bottom of a major. I don't know anyone who has turned down the likes of QF to stay on at CX instead. 20 or 30 years ago the whole idea of CX T&C being so poor that walking away from a command at CX was the smartest option would have most CX crew erupting in laughter. People actually used to leave the likes of BA or AC to come to CX, let that sink in for a minute.

Cathay Pacific imploding
 

Pickuptruck; Very true. Some of us went to extra-ordinary lengths and still didn't get in. It was the carrier of choice to hundreds of professional pilots. It's fall from such grace is nothing short of tragic. Human nature gives me a kind of satisfaction but to those who were successful in those highly competitive times must feel very sad at the current state.

Do you remember Anna talking about the lovely big transformation back then ?
They had the present POS18 in mind a very long time ago.
They just needed the opportunity.

What you guys don't seem to understand:
1.The old Cathay is dead and it won't come back.
2.The transformation includes a change from a lifetime career into just another temporary contract job - the new Cathay doesn't expect you to stay for life nor do they want you to stay for life.
3.The end game of this big transformation will be a Chinese airline with Chinese pilots on Chinese salaries.

You can whine as much as you like.
It won't change a thing.

Finally someone who understands what exactly is going on at Cx. Guys, just enjoy the fact that you can still fly an airplane and have a job. Many can’t even do that anymore. And as for Cx, you must accept that it’s only going to get worse or else you’ll drive yourself crazy.

The fact that CX are now hiring Mainlander cadets is indicative to where HK is heading in the long term, 2047 isn't as far away as you might like to think; full integration of HK into GBA is the plan. Plus from a cost stand point of view it just makes sense to hire locally; HK and China have an educated work force - why the need to hire pesky expensive expats anymore? You only need 200 hours TT to sit in the RHS of an A320. The 'good old expat' HK days are over.

But you need 4000 hours to sit in the left. That takes the kids 10 years round here. There's still a bit of flogging in this dead horse yet.

I like to think 2047 is 24 years from now

Good example of a one-sided perspective in my opinion.Today we have hundreds of LCC all over the world, a human resource that did not exist 20 years ago. It doesn't matter if BA et al is more attractive as an employer.

I think a lot of people plan to stay for life, and it will be a career airline for them, just not the same type of people. Again, I think this is a one-sided western perspective. I agree recruitment might include Chinese, but this is a problem for 2030 and beyond, Pill has a point here. Personally, my main concern as a 20-30 year old would be technology rather than that.

Gordo, I would argue it actually still is the choice of hundreds, but not by the 5000 hour Western expat who moves his family here in expectation of a great career. Does it matter in the end? I don't think so personally.

Oh no it isn't. 2047 is happening well before 2047.

2047 is just a number.

I can guarantee you, buy 2030, the HKD will be a thing of the past and we'll all be buying things in CNY, Cantonese will be limited to a few locals as Mandarin becomes the native language due to the filth from the north migrating to the south. The line between HK and Shenzhen will remain in place only to serve as a reminder of how good it used to be.

Not too sure about the HKD but you can't kill a language of 100 million people - it's been tried before and failed.

I disagree.

Hong Kong and its financial system is apparently useful for the Chinese as it is, otherwise it would not exist. As if Beijing needs to wait until 2047 because it says so on a piece of paper ( the same piece of paper also promises democracy). If you concur that they can do whatever they like with Hong Kong, and it's hard to deny that surely, then the only possible conclusion is that the current agreement is beneficial to them. The notion the HKD e.g. is just tolerated by China does not make sense in my opinion.

And why would it matter to us if Cantonese as a language survives? I also would argue changing a local language has been indeed done multiple times in history, look at English in the Commonwealth ( Australia debatable :-), Spanish in Latin America and French in Northern Africa, just as an example. Additionally, mandarin is only dominant in China because many other local languages and dialects have been made redundant over the past, e.g. Hakka.

It's not a one sided western perspective, I would rather say your perspective is a one sided Chinese perspective.
At some stage it is likely that this airline will go Chinese, with Chinese pilots on Chinese salaries.
Of course most Chinese would see this still as a lifetime career at 'home'.
Where could pilots from Mainland China work anyways besides China ?

Sure, it might happen after 2030.
That won't make the cut for many right now and expecting a life time career (stressing on present salary that is, not on Chinese market reduced salaries).

With the relations between the US/the West and China going South and high youth unemployment in China this process will probably accelerate.
Furthermore it won't need a Taiwan invasion to kill this airline.
Sanctions on China due to weapon deliveries to Russia or whatever might be enough to stop this airline from flying to North America, Europe, etc..

It might not sound likely to you, but this powder keg named China might be taken into consideration by other pilots looking for a job and who are more interested in a stable outlook for their families.
Maybe that's part of the reasons why the seniority list is not really growing.

A valid point, a swing to recruit from China is possible. The political risks you mention are fair as well, one would have to make a balanced evaluation depending on the individual alternatives, e.g. compared to Middle East or South Aftica.

Whether a lifetime career still exists in aviation at all is debatable, I am convinced In 15-20 years AI and automation in association with demographic pressure especially in China will change everything. Growth of technology will be exponential and faster than expected. Just imagine the potential savings, no FTLs, no hotel cost, no recurrent training, no leave, no sick days, no recruitment issues. You would not "only" save the cost of crew, but many more, sim instructors, dispatch, admin, etc etc. The saving potential is enormous, which is it why it will be implemented. Entering this line of work today at age 20-30 is mad in my opinion. You will end up at age 40-50 with non-transferrable skills in an obsolete profession.Best you can hope for is a job scope compared to a lonely MTR driver with corresponding pay and social status.

It's not Cathay that is imploding, its our profession.

Halo,

I've my DEFO interview in a few weeks. All said and done Cx is doing way better than the present ruck I'm stuck in.

Can yal please let me know what to expect for the interview? Anyone been through the rounds recently? I'm flying in from SFO.

Cheers

And therein lies one of the bigger problems. CX can hire anyone from anywhere. No nationality requirements, therefore happy to hire people who will work for very little...as long as it's a bit more than the "ruck" they are leaving. No financial reward or security can survive that reality.

At the end of the day you want to be happy & healthy, right? Cathay is not the place for that, it hasn't been for many years. Five mins on this forum and you can see a thousand reasons why. It's really pretty simple.

How about those who don't like it leave, those who did leave enjoy their newfound happiness, and both of the former groups leave those still there/ going there in peace?

No way Hose! We´ll hang around here to spread bitterness into your naïve faces and remind you of the glorious world outside Cathay Pathetic. Deal with it.

For the non-scabs amongst us there is another option.

If you don’t like it, fix it.

onya tough guy. Of course you didn’t sign cos18 then?

I couldn't agree more. And I would add that the AI revolution has already begun, it's just that many of us are not yet fully aware of its presence or the magnitude of its impact. In the near term, it will certainly streamline our ground-based operations. Imagine CX without the tedious IT minions!

However, this transition will eventually result in us all being replaced . We will see a ULR that typically requires a four-person crew, reduced to two, then one, and ultimately, no human pilots at all, maybe with some sort "pilot" overseeing multiple aircraft missions from a single location, stepping in only when intervention is necessary, and who will probably only have a theoretical understanding of how to fly an aeroplane - much like a 10 year old playing with flight sim on their PC.

I firmly believe we are witnessing the final phase of the traditional aviator era. It's quite possible that the last conventional pilot, as we understand the role today, has already been born.

This is the amazing part. The number of guys who love COS 18 ,who cling to the notion that CX is better than ever. We need to work at least 21-27 hrs a month more to make up for the pay cut under COS18 and guys are begging and praying the CAD lift the 900 hr max so they can work more 110 hr months to make the same money. And they're happy to do it. Many have lost a weeks leave under COS18, no problem! I doubt the company realised just how many would probably work for nothing just to be a CX pilot. Were losing a huge bunch of 777s back to the lessors? Well that's a good thing because freights dropping off. We're losing London slots? Well that's a good thing because we burn extra gas now getting there. If you thought the Koolaid drinking was impressive in the past, try nowadays......

Team, sadly this will get much worse unless the pilot community rallies as a global and unified entity, such as an International ALPA, where ICAO licences are recognised as such. There is a great need to standardise licences and type ratings since, post covid, the demand to fill seats is pushing the training machine to its limits. Multinational cockpits are not the thing of the past but low hour pilots from South America, India, Russian Federation etc are now coming aboard with only basic experience and often with previous types pretty much unsuited for transition to jet equipment. In an effort to be less profligate with resources, Corporate Execs have reduced conversion times to below the bare minimum, inside ridiculously tight windows with no time to synthesise and often with unsuited cockpit pairings. This will eventually bring standards on the line to having little skin on the bone and the mantra.." safety is our greatest concern"..will become even more of a cliche than it currently is.
The pilot's associations and Unions have lost all their teeth outside the USA. Unless there is a cohesive effort to confront the machinations of ..not just the Legacy Airlines but the Low costs too, those current rosters, monthly hours and salaries will go the same way as the Maritime Industry..and that is severely south. The various Pilot Unions now have to regroup and send the strongest of messages to all the Airline Execs, that our Profession can no longer suffer the corporate tampering that has pushed post covid levels so blatantly into the banks of the shareholders and the Executive bonuses..

COS18… the best dog!!!! sandwich you ever ate.

Back to 'implosion', I notice that flights in and out of Aus and Europe have dropped significantly in December compared to October/November. Odd. Surely Dec is peak passenger travel

It's unbelievable what certain nationalities would do to compensate what executives have done to the salary and still, no complains. Unbe ******* lievable.

Implosion imminent :)

https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/cathay-pacific-favours-airbus-over-boeing-in-$2.71-bln-freighter-deal

Let's quickly train another 800 cadets to crew the new planes, that'll do it.

Never a truer word spoken !!!!!

The Cav 😂

swissair did that building up crossair and ignored the warnings until an ex aeroflot pilot having been trained on Russian artificial horizons which indicate the opposite way than Western ones rolled upside down and made a smoking hole in Rumlang..Good luck ..I won't be flying with your lot again.

Yes, the consequences are to become reality very, soon, and the bizav community is seeing that right now as well. Nobody is bringing the truth to the table just yet, but soon enough after claiming some more lives that will all change. The same will happen with commercial airline operations, where we are already seeing a substantial increase in incidents and close to accident occurrences. Bring out the popcorns and watch - it´s going to be a nasty 1-3 years ahead of "why did "we" allow this to happen!. You have been warned - clowns.

Jez, yeah the Swiss genius Crossair - the amount of accidents within that branch. Yikes.

Implosion, explosion, what is it now? 😂

Isn't one of the higher ups at UO ex-Crossair? might explain some things

Or operate single pilots ops lol

Brother of a different MOFO. Are you still with CX, after all these years? or are you like myself someone who actually let go of these circus clowns?

Doesn't look like you did let go to me.