Exclusive | Hong Kong’s Cathay reaches 3,400 pilots this year, with low resignation rate of 2.9%

Company is ‘in a phase of record training’, spokesman says

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Cathay Group says it has hit its hiring target this year. Photo: Eugene Lee

Cannix Yau

Published: 8:30am, 12 Dec 2024Updated: 6:31pm, 13 Dec 2024

Corrected [4:15pm, 12 Dec, 2024]

[4:15pm, 12 Dec, 2024]
This article has been updated with new figures on pilot salaries as Cathay corrected the numbers it initially released to the Post.

Hong Kong’s Cathay Group has hit its target of reaching 3,400 pilots this year and expects to recruit 100 more by the end of January, with the company reiterating it is on track to fully return to pre-pandemic flight capacity by then.

“We are pleased to inform you that in the area of pilot recruitment, we have achieved the 2024 target of reaching 3,400 pilots in total. It’s a new milestone,” a Cathay spokesman told the Post this week.

He added the group had a low resignation rate of 2.9 per cent this year.

The company announced on November 26, two days before the launch of the city’s new three-runway system, that it would reach pre-pandemic capacity by the end of January 2025.

The company told the Post in early December it remained “very confident” of meeting its projection and had “robust plans” for recruitment despite its pilots’ union expressing doubts.

Cathay had previously postponed its timeline for a full return to capacity from the end of 2024 to the first quarter of next year.