Cathay on hiring push as Hong Kong still wrestles with Covid

Bloomberg

Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd is planning to recruit 4,000 staff between now and the end of 2023 to replenish its severely depleted workforce and gear up for an anticipated recovery in air travel as Hong Kong rebuilds itself as an aviation hub, according to Chief Executive Officer Augustus Tang.
The hiring spree would still leave Cathay with significantly fewer employees than before Covid-19, with staff numbers at levels last seen in 2007, but the plan marks a turnaround in the airline’s outlook after three years of turmoil and
cost cutting. Cathay employed about 16,700 people at the end of 2021.
It also comes as Covid continues to haunt Hong Kong, with mandatory quarantines still required for travelers and a fresh round of tighter rules in force as infections rise above 1,000 to the highest in two months.
While the sterner approach to tackling the virus is more aligned with mainland China’s strategy, it has left Hong Kong isolated from the rest of the world and raised questions about the city’s status as a vibrant international financial centre.
Cathay intends to bring in 700 pilots and about 2,000 cabin crew, with the remaining positions open for frontline airport staff working in areas such as customer service, Tang said.
Including Cathay’s subsidiaries, the total hiring plan numbers around 8,000.
“Hong Kong is a very important international aviation hub and it is not off the map at all,” Tang said in an interview with Bloomberg News at Swire Pacific Ltd’s Hong Kong headquarters. “In preparation for the recovery, we need to recruit well in advance because it takes a lot of time to recruit and train.”
Cathay’s workforce has shrunk by about 40% during the pandemic, more than other major carriers, including regional rival Singapore Airlines Ltd, which is bouncing back after the Southeast Asian nation eased quarantine rules and opened up this year.
Hong Kong has made some tentative steps to loosen travel restrictions and has lowered mandatory hotel quarantine to seven days from 21, but its border regime remains one of the tightest in the world.
“Cathay is going to face the greatest challenge in trying to come back,” said Mohshin Aziz, director of Pangolin Aviation Recovery Fund, which invests in aviation-related businesses. “It will be tough because Cathay is highly reliant on foreign workers for pilots and cabin crew.