Cathay Seniority System
Join Date: Mar 1999
Location: Australia
Age: 53
Posts: 207
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I'm curious as to why Cathay, as a seniority based airline, introduced DEFO a few years back. Am I right in thinking that it was because they did not have enough SO's suitable for upgrade? If so what are the minimums required for a SO to be eligible for progression to FO?
Roger Greendeck
In a nut shell, yes, that is the reason the company used for DEFO’s. It was immaterial to the company that a considerable number of the DEFO’s had less experience than the DESO’s they were bypassing. The only reason the SO’s weren’t “suitable” for upgrade was because they hadn’t been assessed by the company not because they were unsuitable. Unfortunately there was and still is a provision in out COS which allows the company to employ DEFO’s when there aren’t any “suitable” SO’s for upgrade. The company used this provision about six years ago during a period of rapid expansion but also cynically to try and fill the bases. There is though no provision in our COS to employ DEC. In the past though the company got around this by having a separate CX freighter company and offering commands out of seniority on the freighter fleet but on considerably inferior COS. The company as far as I recall would offer these positions first internally and if there was still positions available they then employed people externally. The freighter fleet has now though been brought back into the rest of the CX fleet so rapid commands and DEC on the CX freighter fleet now isn’t possible. They can and have used the joint venture Air China Cargo and Air Hong Kong as a vehicle for DEC.
Am I right in thinking that it was because they did not have enough SO's suitable for upgrade?
