Cathay Pacific Airways aims to hire 4,000 staff by the end of next year as part of an ambitious recruitment plan to meet the rising global demand for air travel. The new roles include pilots and cabin crew members, to cover its future needs.
The airline, which is based at Hong Kong International Airport (HGK), aims to hire hundreds of cabin crew members by the end of 2023, the airline said in a statement released on September 5, 2022. The airline will also be recruiting 700 new pilots, of which 400 are expected to be cadet graduates to fill the position of First Officer.
“Since the inception of our Cadet Pilot training program, Cathay Pacific has trained more than 1,000 cadet pilots from Hong Kong. We look forward to welcoming candidates who will be starting the new cadet courses and becoming part of the Cathay Pacific team upon graduation,” the airline said,
“Overall, we aim to train more than 1,000 cadet pilots by 2025,” the airline added.
The world’s “leading center” for aviation training
The airline recently signed a three-year collaboration agreement with the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) over a new integrated course for Cathay Pacific’s Cadet Pilot training program. The integrated course, which takes between 55 and 60 weeks, is comprised of three stages – theory, simulator training, and flight training.
According to Cathay Pacific CEO Augustus Tang, the course is expected to help the airline become the world’s “leading center” for aviation training, providing cadets a “world-class instruction and training for prospective”.
“Conducting the majority of cadet-training activities in Hong Kong will ensure that the training regime is specifically suited to meet the needs of Cathay Pacific,” the air carrier’s statement concludes.
In mid-June 2022, Cathay Pacific admitted it was struggling to manage a high rate of pilot resignations post-pandemic. To deal with the staffing issue, the carrier had considered making improvements to allowances and benefits, estimating that the move would appease flight crew whose salaries were cut to help the airline navigate its way through the pandemic.
“We still have resignation rates at much higher levels than we’ve historically had,” Chief Operations and Service Delivery Officer Greg Hughes said in the interview with Bloomberg at the time.
