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Jo Bowman

Victoria Button

Cathay Pacific pilots yesterday launched industrial action they say will leave flights plagued by delays, especially those to Europe and North America, although the move had no immediate impact on passengers.

The Aircrew Officers' Association for the first time laid out its battle plan for the protest over pay and conditions, but said it could be days or weeks before the action began to hit flights.

The union said it would maintain the action, and gradually increase it, until pilots had a fair deal. Cathay said it would not give in to the pilots' demands, no matter how disruptive, drawn out and expensive the fight became.

Under the union's 'maximum safety' strategy, crew are now conducting repeated safety checks and will no longer arrive for work early to begin reading flight documents.

Instructions to union members, about 1,300 of Cathay's 1,500 pilots, were sent by e-mail early yesterday, ordering an immediate start to the protest.

Cathay said operations were normal yesterday. It conceded bookings had dipped and advised passengers to check the status of flights before heading for the airport.

'It is with great regret that for the first time in its 37-year history, the [union] has been forced into taking action it did not wish to happen,' union general secretary John Findlay said.

The 'maximum safety' strategy is a 27-page document detailing safety considerations under 12 categories, from arriving at the aircraft to doing paperwork after landing, and more than 100 sub-categories. It quotes extensively from operation manuals.

'While there is no prize for achieving the most points on the day, you will be judged by your peers for your level of contribution to flight safety. How safe can you make the operation today?' the plan says in its introduction.

Cathay's corporate development director, Tony Tyler, said if the union had put as much effort into negotiation as into preparing what he called the 'Hong Kong disruption plan', an agreement could have been reached by now - a claim dismissed by Mr Findlay as untrue and 'yet another cheap shot by Cathay's PR machine'.

Mr Tyler said: 'Using [safety] as a blunt club in industrial action undermines the association itself and professional pilots generally.'

He said the public would see the strategy as an attempt to disrupt the airline and Hong Kong's tourism industry.

Mr Findlay said pilots would work in strict accordance with Cathay's operation manuals. He said management had 'impinged upon safety margins' by relying on pilot goodwill to find time for necessary checks.

Crew would no longer arrive earlier than the required 80 minutes before departure to begin reading flight papers, regardless of the scheduled take-off time.

Long-haul flights would be worst affected, as they involved more pre-flight reading.

In the cockpit, each crew member would carry out safety checks, which would all be checked and rechecked by every pilot on board.

In normal circumstances, Mr Findlay said, procedures could be 'abbreviated' safely and crew did much of the required reading in their own time.

'We make no implication whatsoever that Cathay Pacific is not one of the safest airlines in the world. It is,' Mr Findlay said. 'But ensuring that all pre-flight preparation is carried out and cross-checked meticulously will take longer than before.'

Cathay said seven flights had suffered delays yesterday, but none because of the pilots' action. It said at least two more flights would be delayed today.

Mr Tyler said the company was resolute in not giving in, even if the action dragged on for a year, and warned it was watching pilots to ensure they did not 'cross the line'.

'We're not in a position to be able to accept unreasonable demands which completely erode our competitiveness in the long term,' Mr Tyler said.

He said the 80-minute action would not cause delays. The airline has said it has contingency measures to limit disruption.

Week-long talks between the two sides collapsed last week, with each side blaming the other.

Mr Findlay said it could be days or even weeks before flights began to be affected, as many pilots were travelling and would not have seen the union's e-mail. But he said pilots were as firm in their commitment as Cathay.

'Cathay management always walks away from the table. But this time they must understand that the pilots are serious,' he said.



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