Hong Kong has an aviation labour shortage because companies don’t pay enough - except for pilots

At the annual Hong Kong International Airport Career Expo over the weekend, one can easily find the Cathay Pacific cadet pilot programme booth - that is by far the busiest booth besieged by young men - and a few young women. Standing in the middle are Cathay pilots Allen, Clive and Michael, who are bombarded with questions on how to get into the programme that trains people with zero aviation experience how to fly, expenses paid.

That was also the corner in the exhibition hall offering the highest-paying jobs. Monthly pay of a Second Officer at Cathay, the most junior rank, starts at around HK$50,000, according to the airline. Most of the more than 3,000 entry-level airport-based jobs from 40 employers presented at the expo don’t pay anywhere near that. Become a Dragonair flight attendant, you would earn monthly salary of between HK$16,000 to HK$17,000; Or become a customer service representative at the Hong Kong Business Aviation Centre for “maximum HK$20,000” a month, according to promotional information.

More than 73,000 people work within the airport area, a number that Secretary for Labour and Welfare Matthew Cheung Kin-chung said should double when the third runway gets built in eight years. However, companies may find it difficult to fill some of those jobs unless they raise their pay.

Hong Kong Airlines, which is on an aggressive expansion, plans to add 1,000 jobs this year, almost one third of its current size of 3,300. About 600 positions are for the airline and 400 for its newly-established ground service subsidiary HAGSL. “Maintenance positions are among the hardest to fill,” chief operating officer Ben Wong said. “There is a lot of demand for engineers and mechanics for complicated planning and technical services at every airline,” he said.

While Hong Kong Polytechnic University and the University of Science and Technology both have degree programmes in aviation engineering, mechanics are mainly trained by the three biggest maintenance companies, the Vocational Training Council, or the airlines themselves.

The government in January said it would establish a Civil Aviation Academy, but details of what kind of training the academy would offer is still under discussion, the Airport Authority’s acting chief executive CK Ng said.