Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd resumed service yesterday on 11 of 38 flights that it suspended July 8 because of a contract dispute with pilots. Asia's fifth-biggest carrier plans to operate 90 percent of scheduled flights.
The Hong Kong-based airline said in a statement it planned to restart seven flights linking Hong Kong and Seoul, Manila and Taipei, and resume services between Taipei and Nagoya and Tokyo.
The carrier will operate 130 of its 144 scheduled services today.
"The situation seems to be improving so we can begin reinstating a number of flights," Cathay's Director of Corporate Development Tony Tyler said in the statement. Cathay canceled 24 percent of its flights yesterday.
Cathay is among airlines resisting union pressure for increased pay even as cargo and passenger demand drops. Madrid-based Iberia Lineas Aereas de Espana SA yesterday canceled almost a quarter of its 1,022 scheduled flights as pilots struck as part of a campaign over wages.
The airline has fired 52 pilots in the past week and given raises of up to 9 percent, better benefits and work schedules to the rest, a move designed to reduce support for the union from its members, said Lee Cheuk-yan, general secretary of the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions, which represents 145,000 workers.
The firing of pilots has "two purposes: one is to threaten the other pilots; and the second is to invite the union to escalate their actions," said Lee. "If the union escalates the action it will result in more firings. The union has not done that so the issue will drag on." Cathay will use 17 planes chartered from Chinese airlines on 43 flights today, the company said.
By 1pm today, five Cathay flights were late by 15 minutes or more, and two of those were an hour or more late, according to the Hong Kong airport's Web site. Fifteen flights yesterday were 15 minutes late or more, and six were an hour or more late, the airline said in the statement.
Cathay shares fell 1 percent to HK$10.15. The shares have fallen 29 percent this year compared with a 17 percent drop in the Hang Seng Index.
For the past week, pilots have followed a union request to abide strictly by their contracts, including turning up no earlier than 80 minutes before takeoff.
Cathay said on Sunday that sickness rates have "roughly doubled" since July 3.
Cathay's strategy of chartering 17 jets and cutting flights by a fifth means it only needs about half of its pilots to be able to provide a reliable service throughout the summer, said Chin Y.
Lim, an analyst at Morgan Stanley Dean Witter in Singapore.
The airline has 70 jets and 1,600 pilots. About 1,260 of Cathay's pilots belong to the Hong Kong Aircrew Officers Association, the union at the center of the dispute.
"If you've got 17 jets on a wet-lease basis, and Cathay reduces capacity by 20 percent, the math that you work out is 44 percent" of pilots can be on a go-slow basis without affecting operations, said Lim, who estimates the dispute is costing the airline about HK$30 million (US$3.8 million) to HK$35 million a day.
Flights to Adelaide, Colombo, Cairns, Hanoi, Karachi, Manchester, New Delhi, New York, Penang and Perth remain suspended.
RSS