Cathay restores some flights in air dispute

Cathay Pacific Airways planes at Hong Kong's International Airport

HONG KONG, China -- Hong Kong's flag carrier Cathay Pacific Airways says that it will restore some flights even though there is no resolution in sight to its dispute with its pilots.

With the help of charter aircraft and crew, the airline will reinstate 11 of 38 suspended flights including routes to Seoul, Manila and Taipei, and on to Nagoya and Tokyo.

Cathay has sacked 52 pilots during the row over pay and work rosters.

The union vowed to continue industrial action, with aircrews working strictly in accordance with work and safety regulations, effectively slowing all operations.

Cathay's director of corporate development Tony Tyler said Cathay planes would be used to fly the reinstated routes.

Hundreds of Cathay flights have been cancelled or delayed and the plans of thousands of passengers disrupted.

29 flights were cancelled on Tuesday and long delays are still dogging passengers, especially those on inbound flights.

The Hong Kong Aircrew Officers Association, the pilots' union, was unavailable for comment.

Travel agents have reported near chaos as Cathay flights were cancelled and onward connections with other airlines left hanging.

Tactics

Although there had been no marked rise in the number of cabin crew reporting sick, the pilots' union has shown no sign of giving up its action, the condition set by management for resuming talks.

But Cathay has also said it will impose a pay and rostering package, with rises of up to nine percent, which would cost the airline an additional $25.64 million (HK$200 million) a year.

The quarrel took a new twist on Wednesday when John Findlay, general secretary of the pilots' union, accused the company of deliberately grounding its own planes and pilots in a campaign to fuel public anger against the pilots.

People line up at the counter of Cathay Pacific Airways

"People should be asking Cathay . . . why were 13 of its aircraft sitting parked at CLK (Chek Lap Kok) when there were over a hundred (Cathay) pilots on standby duty at home doing nothing?" Findlay said on local radio station RTHK.

"It seems that they deliberately kept the delays going . . . for part of their PR (public relations) battle and then they come out and sack 49 pilots unfairly."

At least three of those sacked were union negotiators. Cathay has denied it was employing "union-busting" tactics.

The row has also triggered calls from academics and analysts for the government to switch to an "open-skies" policy and allow other airlines to fly routes now dominated by Cathay.

Reuters contributed to this report.