Wuhan coronavirus-inflicted economic woes on top of political ones for Cathay Pacific and those who it's making jobless

Grounded planes -- a good many of which are part of the

Cathay Pacific fleet -- at Hong Kong International Airport

 

At a rally to support Cathay Pacific staffers terminated

for their anti extradition bill positions last year

 

News came yesterday that Hong Kong's unemployment rate had risen to 6.4 percent: the highest in about 16 years and more than double the 2.9 percent jobless rate recorded around this time last year.  Barely 24 hours afterwards, there has come the announcement that Hong Kong's flagship carrier, Cathay Pacific, will axe its Cathay Dragon regional subsidiary tomorrow -- and that 8,500 jobs ((some 5,300 of which are Hong Kong-based) will go when this happens.     

 

Aviation fans and other nostalgic Hong Kongers are mourning the loss of the Cathay Dragon fleet -- in large part for its connection to Dragonair, Hong Kong's first local airline.  Established to compete with Cathay in 1985, it ended up being taken over by its erstwhile competitor in 2006 but retained its logo until 2016, when it was rebranded as Cathay Dragon. 

Meanwhile, those looking ahead rather than back into the past are fearing that there will be further job cuts both within the Cathay ranks and also beyond; with the chairwoman of the Confederation of Trade Unions, Carol Ng, saying that Cathay Pacific's job cuts will serve to encourage other employers to follow suit.  (Just this past weekend, I heard two senior executives talk about how their companies were intent on keeping up appearances by not retrenching people at this time.  I wonder how different their conversation about job cuts will be now that Cathay's effectively got the retrenchment ball rolling.)

 

Of course it's true enough that the aviation industry has been really hit hard by the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic.  Usually, by this time of the year, I'd have flown on at least three times out of Hong Kong (and another three back again), and I know of many people who would have been flying out of and into Hong Kong more frequently than me.  Also, I'm one of what must be tens, if not hundreds, of thousands -- even millions -- of people who had their air fare refunded after feeling obliged to cancel -- or postpone for a (long) time -- planned trips this year; with many of those involving Cathay Pacific in the case of Hong Kong-based individuals. 

 

Hong Kong's flagship carrier additionally was in trouble back in 2019 after it bowed to China and fired a staffer of 17 years for displays of solidarity with anti-extradition bill protestors that she had privately posted on Facebook as well as two pilots involved in the protests.  Whereas earlier on, the airline had been applauded for its staffers standing with Hong Kong (including, a flight captain whose pre-landing message went viral), it later drew the wrath of many Hong Kongers (not least after the pilot in question was reported to have left Cathay, probably involuntarily); with a number of people deciding that they were going to boycott the airline they previously had felt proud of and emotionally attached to.      

 

In better news for the travel industry, or at least its local tours sector: the Hong Kong government announced yesterday that it would be relaxing some social distancing measures and allow licensed travel agencies to run tour groups of not more than 30 people starting from this Friday.  At the same time though, the public gathering ban on groups of larger than four will remain.  So there's some confusion as to how those tour groups of far more than four people will be run!  

Understandably, pro-democracy politicians and activists -- as well as regular folks -- tend towards the opinion that the government is exploiting the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic for political reasons by doing such as using its excuse to keep the public gathering ban.  And this all the more so when Hong Kong's brought down its third Wuhan coronavirus wave and its coronavirus figures have gone back to being on the admirably low side: with a total of just eight new coronavirus cases recorded today, of which only one was a locally transmission; and -- even more encouragingly -- Hong Kong not reporting any new coronavirus cases with no known source on four out of the past five days.