Hong Kong’s Cathay Group to recruit up to 4,000 employees amid expansion drive

Hong Kong’s Cathay Group is planning to hire up to 4,000 employees globally this year with three consecutive recruitment roadshows in the city, Shanghai and London, as the firm embarks on a planned expansion to 100 destinations.

Patricia Hwang, Cathay’s director of people, said after a recruitment roadshow on Saturday that the group would step up hiring efforts all over the world for more staff, including pilots, cabin crew and customer services officers by year end.

“The group is seeking to expand its network to reach the goal of hitting 100 destinations this year. We will continue to recruit more people here. The total number of employees will increase by 3,000 to 4,000 by the end of the year,” she said.

“To achieve this goal, we will actively recruit from all over the world. In addition to today’s event in Hong Kong, for the next two weekends, our team will tour around Shanghai and London to carry out a similar hiring exercise.”

The group’s recruitment drive came after CEO Ronald Lam Siu-por said in January the company had successfully completed its two-year plan to rebuild and that flights had returned to 100 per cent of pre-Covid levels.

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

With the recovery of the global aviation sector from the pandemic, the industry has seen a resurgence in demand for air travel, fuelling intense competition among global airlines looking to sign up new pilots and cabin crew to support the expansion of their fleets and travel networks.