Cathay pilots work-to-rule threatens flights

Tony Tyler, Cathay Pacific's director of corporate development, fields questions at a press conference

HONG KONG, China -- Cathay Pacific Airways pilots are to work to rule in a dispute over pay and conditions that now seems likely to disrupt summer season travel.

The pilots' union describes their plan as a "go-carefully" action. Cathay flights were reportedly running on schedule Tuesday.

Cathay handles about a third of all passenger and cargo traffic passing through Hong Kong.

John Findlay, general secretary of the Hong Kong Aircrew Officers' Association, said the work to rule policy effectively consisted of "strict adherence to the company's operating manual."

QUOTE "We put a lot of money on the table. Do they want it or don't they?" - Cathay corporate development director Tony Tyler

"It means that the aircrew will report to work precisely when they are due to report," Findlay said.

In Hong Kong that would mean pilots would arrive one hour and twenty minutes before departure time.

"One hour, twenty . . . quite simply isn't enough," he said. "The impact could come as early as today."

Pilots previously threatened disruptive industrial action from Tuesday if Cathay did not meet demands.

In 1999, the pilots staged a "sickout" causing hundreds of flight cancellations and forcing Cathay to charter some 30 aircraft and crew from other airlines at a cost of HK$500 million (US$64 million).

Cathay retracted a 10.5 percent pay rise offer after the pilots union failed to accept it by a midnight deadline on Saturday.

"We are prepared to charter additional aircraft and rebook passengers on other airlines. For the moment we will continue to operate normally and take bookings on future flights," Tony Tyler, Cathay's director of corporate development, told a news conference in the early hours of Sunday morning.

The airline said if industrial action did occur, it would most likely mean delays rather than cancelled flights.

Passengers were advised to check the status of their flights before leaving for the airport.

Cathay said it would not return to the negotiating table while the threat of industrial action remained, but the union accused Cathay of holding back vital information during talks.

The union's Findlay said further talks were pointless unless the airline supplied the data to the HKAOA.

"If they don't give us the information, we can't negotiate properly with them," Findlay said.

Airport prepared

Findlay said Cathay was effectively issuing an ultimatum by refusing to provide the union with the information it needed, but Tyler denied this.

"We're not the ones making ultimatums. We're not the ones making threats," Tyler told CNN on Monday.

"We simply offered a lot of money. We put a lot of money on the table. Do they want it or don't they? That's the question for them."

The rejection of the airline's offer by the union means that Cathay's 700 most senior pilots face a three percent pay cut from Sunday, the last instalment of cuts agreed to end the 1999 dispute.

The union, which represents about 1,200 of Cathay's 1,400 pilots, demanded the airline reverse the pay cuts and make significant improvements in rostering, the effect of which would be to hire more pilots.

As well as an up-to 10.5 percent increase, Cathay said it had offered overtime premiums of 2.5 times basic hourly pay and pension contributions equal to 15.5 percent of the pay rise.

Findlay declined to comment on Cathay's withdrawal of its offer.

Cathay, which says its best paid pilots earn over US$400,000 annually in pay and benefits, has tried to portray the pilots as "holding Hong Kong hostage" over its demands.

The Airport Authority said it was prepared for disruption.

"We have plans in place which would be similar to what we've used in the past," Authority spokesman Chris Donnolley said, adding that the airport could draw on its experience from the 1999 "sick-out," and from typhoons when flights were disrupted.

Cathay is 45.3 percent-owned by Swire Pacific Ltd and 25.5 percent owned by CITIC Pacific Ltd.

Reuters contributed to this report.