Hong Kong’s flagship airline plans to hire more mainland Chinese to staff its planes, according to the China Daily. Cathay Pacific Airways’ recruitment drive, primarily targeting flight attendants, will support its expansion to more mainland cities.
Cathay Group currently employs more than 30,000 people from around 70 different countries and regions. Only about 3,000 of them are mainland Chinese, and the aim is to up that number to about 4,000, China Daily said.
Along with new jobs for flight attendants, vacancies will open for pilots, aircraft maintenance engineers, ground crew members and information technology personnel from the mainland. Cathay’s Shenzhen and Guangzhou offices, which focus on the technology side of the business, will also be expanded.
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The news that Cathay will be recruiting more mainland Chinese for passenger-facing jobs comes almost two years after some of the airline’s cabin crew were caught insulting mainland passengers. The incident caused major backlash, with Chief Executive John Lee accusing Cathay of damaging the city’s image. The airline’s CEO also made a public apology for the crew’s behaviour.
Meanwhile, the airline recently announced it would launch a direct Hong Kong-Urumqi, Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, on 28 April – bringing the total number of mainland destinations it services up to 20.
In a statement, chief customer and commercial officer at Cathay Group, Lavinia Lau, described Urumqi as “an exciting new addition to our network, directly connecting our home city with an important Belt and Road hub in Northwestern China.”
