Yesterday (January 7), writer and travel expert Xiang Mingsheng broke the news to Hong Kong's local media "Hong Kong 01 News", alleging that the Cathay Pacific Airways flight he was scheduled to take yesterday morning flew from Taiwan's Taoyuan Airport to Kansai, Japan.
However, it was not until he arrived at the airport that he was informed that the flight had been cancelled due to "flight scheduling" problems.
Cathay Pacific's local ground staff at Taoyuan Airport only provided NT$300 (equivalent to about HK$80) in food and beverage vouchers, and affected passengers need to fill out a refund form online.
(Photo source: Hong Kong 01 News)
Xiang Mingsheng said in an interview:
It was only after his arrival at Taoyuan Airport that he was informed that his flight CX564 had been cancelled due to "flight scheduling".
There were many passengers at the scene who had their trips blocked like him.
As far as he knows, the original flight was from Hong Kong to Taoyuan, Taiwan, and then from Taoyuan to Kansai.
"Its Hong Kong flights have flown over, and they have all been cancelled and buried. (They all flew over to Hong Kong, and they all canceled them.) ）”
(Photo source: Hong Kong 01 News)
Originally, the cancellation of the flight had caused inconvenience and displeasure to passengers, and Cathay Pacific's handling of the situation later made the passengers on the scene even more angry.
Mr. Xiang said he had asked Cathay for a refund, but that Cathay did not appear to have any intention of compensating the affected passengers.
The local Cathay Pacific ground staff in Taoyuan only offered him a restaurant voucher that could compensate him NT$300 (about HK$80). He was asked to fill out the refund form online on his own.
"Anyway, it's not about it, so I asked me to fill it out on the Internet myself. (In short, nothing has anything to do with them, tell me to fill out the form online myself)".
(Photo source: Hong Kong 01 News)
Like Xiang Mingsheng, many other customers at the counter complained to Cathay Pacific about this issue.
Although Cathay Pacific offered to arrange a connecting flight, it took 12 hours to reach Osaka.
In the end, Xiang Mingsheng had to choose to buy other airlines to fly to Osaka on the spot, but the ticket of NT$9,000 (about 2,270 Hong Kong dollars) was 3-4% more expensive than usual.
But in order not to waste the hotels and restaurants that have been booked before, they can only choose to become "fish on the table".
(Photo source: Hong Kong 01 News)
Xiang Mingsheng pointed out that although he had been cancelled by low-cost airlines, this was the first time that Cathay Pacific had such a situation. This is because Cathay Pacific is not a "Budget Airline", and the flight cancellation is not due to force majeure such as weather.
He believes that as a large company, Cathay Pacific should not have a situation where flights are suddenly canceled on the grounds of "flight scheduling".
"The goodwill of the brand is very important, if you are brave enough to take your plane next time, people (passengers) plan to shine. (Their brand goodwill is important, and if so, whoever has the guts to take it next time has a trip planned in advance.) ）
(Image source: Internet)
In fact, the scene that Xiang Mingsheng encountered at Taiwan's Taoyuan Airport was not an isolated case.
From December last year to January this year, Cathay Pacific has seen a number of flight cancellations.
According to the Hong Kong Aviation Forum's online page and Cathay Pacific's official website, Cathay Pacific cancelled at least 34 flights between Shanghai, Beijing, Taipei, Dubai, Delhi, India and Dakar, Bangladesh from the 2nd to 7th of this month.
Among them, CX360 and round-trip CX369 flights to and from Shanghai Pudong Airport will cancel all flights for 6 days.
(Photo source: Hong Kong 01 News)
On 31 December last year, at least 16 Cathay Pacific flights were cancelled, of which 10 were arrivals in Sydney, Singapore, Delhi, Bangkok, Beijing and Shanghai, and six departures were in Bangkok, Beijing, Shanghai, Incheon and Melbourne.
The impact on visitors returning to Hong Kong during the Christmas and New Year holidays to visit relatives and plan to travel is not small.
(Photo source: Hong Kong 01 News)
In this regard, Cathay Pacific has earlier stated:
Due to the flu season in December, pilots were absent from work more than expected due to illness.
In order to cope with the situation and ensure the normal operation of the overall flight service, it was decided to cancel individual flights on our own initiative. Since mid-December, less than 1% of the total number of passenger flights has been cancelled.
But all things considered, the flu season is not the main reason. The "shortage of pilots" is the "main culprit" that leads to the frequent cancellation of Cathay Pacific flights.
(Photo source: Hong Kong 01 News)
According to the Aviation Crew Association:
Cathay Pacific's current pilot base is only about half of what it was before the pandemic.
Although Cathay Pacific claimed earlier that it had recovered 70% of its capacity, not only did the number of existing pilots not reach the pre-pandemic number, but even the recruitment of pilots could not keep up.
(Photo source: Hong Kong 01 News)
Paul Weatherilt, president of the Airline Crew Association, agrees that Cathay Pacific's voluntary cancellation of individual flights is probably due to a lack of manpower – "when there are not enough pilots, this happens." ”
He also believes that there is a need to expedite the recruitment of pilots, and one of the ways to recruit pilots as soon as possible is to wave to pilots who have left their jobs.
He also pointed out that there are currently nearly 1,000 retrenched pilots from all over the world and Hong Kong, and if we want to attract them back, we must be more attractive.
(Photo source: Hong Kong 01 News)
Trade unions refer to:
If Cathay Pacific does not step up hiring, there is no chance of full capacity recovery in 2024. They are also worried that Cathay Pacific's manpower shortage will intensify after the Lunar New Year.
In the immediate aftermath of yesterday's incident, Cathay Pacific has once again apologised to its passengers for disruptions to operations during the peak holiday period, which has led to disruptions or cancellations of flight operations.
He also said that he has learned from the experience and will make corresponding improvements in the future to ensure the stable operation of future flights.
(Photo source: Hong Kong 01 News)
Cathay Pacific said:
The flight schedule has been reviewed and the number of pilots on standby has been increased to consolidate an average of six pairs of flights per day for the remainder of January and February, mainly on routes with more frequent daily departures.
Affected passengers will be contacted as soon as possible to arrange a transfer to another nearest flight or provide a refund.
(Photo source: Hong Kong 01 News)
In this regard, Cathay Pacific Chief Executive Officer Shaobo Lin also said:
Measures are in place to ensure Cathay Pacific's flight services operate as usual during the Lunar New Year peak travel period. Both overseas travellers and visitors can travel as planned.
(Photo source: Hong Kong 01 News)
Cathay Pacific was once a proud brand for Hong Kong, but today it is underperforming.
During the three-year epidemic, the Hong Kong government repeatedly intervened to save Cathay Pacific.
In June 2020, after announcing Cathay's recapitalisation plan, the Hong Kong government even used a $27.3 billion land fund to invest in Cathay, including $19.5 billion to buy preferred shares and $7.8 billion in excessive loans, to help Cathay ride out the storm.
(Image source: Now News)
In 2023, the Hong Kong government announced the launch of the "Hello Hong Kong!" initiative to attract tourists to Hong Kong.
This includes the phased delivery of about 700,000 air tickets to be pre-purchased by the Hong Kong government from Cathay Pacific, HK Express and Hong Kong Airlines.
(Image source: Internet)
Under this scheme, Cathay Pacific launched the "Fly to the World" program, which was paid for by the Hong Kong government, giving away 36,090 round-trip tickets between Taiwan and Hong Kong, 12,000 round-trip Japan-Hong Kong, 83,000 round-trip tickets to and from the Mainland-Hong Kong, and 27,314 round-trip tickets to and from 26 overseas countries to Hong Kong.
(Image source: Klook)
In the 2023 Policy Address, the Hong Kong government also proposed a number of policy measures to continue to enhance Hong Kong's competitiveness as an international aviation hub.
In this regard, Cathay Pacific President Lin Shaobo also made it clear that Cathay Pacific, as a local airline in Hong Kong with Hong Kong as its home, will provide full support for Hong Kong to build an international aviation hub.
(Image source: BBC)
However, the ideal vision is good, and how Cathay Pacific should take practical actions is the problem of "pilot shortage" that needs to be solved urgently.
As mentioned earlier, if Cathay Pacific's capacity has recovered to 70% of its pre-pandemic level, as it suggests, and the number of pilots has only recovered to 52%, then it is now overloaded.
If the problem is not improved in time, I am afraid that it will never recover to 100% of the pre-epidemic level, let alone reach another peak.
(Photo source: Hong Kong 01 News)
At the same time, as Xiang Mingsheng, a travel expert who suffered an "unprovoked" flight cancellation, said, in the process of flight cancellation, both Cathay Pacific's handling and service attitude lacked professionalism.
There was neither advance notice nor compensation measures that met the psychological expectations of passengers.
This is indeed detrimental to Cathay's future brand image.
If such incidents occur repeatedly, even if they are insignificant, they can add up and have a negative impact on Cathay Pacific's aviation industry and Hong Kong as a whole.
(Photo source: Hong Kong 01 News)
So, how will Cathay Pacific deliver on its promises to travellers and restore its image on the occasion of the Lunar New Year?