Cathay Pacific discrimination scandal: is it the tip of an iceberg of low morale, simmering Hong Kong-mainland tensions or just inexcusable bad behaviour?

Analysts and employees of flag carrier ask whether Cathay can salvage reputation, save itself from mainlanders’ ire and rebuild standing in key customer base

‘The overall consensus from the crew community is that the company does not listen to their grievances despite voicing their concerns,’ insider says

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Published: 9:00am, 25 May 2023Updated: 4:29pm, 26 May 2023

Staff at Hong Kong’s flag carrier Cathay Pacific keep hitting the headlines for all the wrong reasons. Over the past few days, the airline has been embroiled in a widening scandal as its crew were caught openly humiliating mainland Chinese passengers. Recently, its pilots were accused of deliberately slowing down while taxiing their planes. In the first of a two-part series, Cannix Yau, Jess Ma and Oscar Liu report on Cathay’s crisis. Read part two here.

Hong Kong’s beleaguered airline Cathay Pacific has to engage in serious soul-searching on the real cause of a snowballing insult debacle or risk ruining the city’s tourism reputation, insiders and critics warned on Wednesday.

Whether it was low staff morale, insufficient training or grievances about drastic pay cuts, it needed to resolve deep-seated issues or it could not be sure of causing yet another scandal, they said, pointing to a host of possible trigger points for the atrociously rude service at the heart of the crisis.

Insiders and critics have warned that Cathay Pacific needs to resolve deep-seated issues after the discrimination scandal. Photo: Jonathan Wong

The advice came from independent analysts and employees of the flag carrier as it summarily sacked three cabin crew members a day earlier after complaints emerged of the staff insulting and discriminating against non-English speakers. The scandal has rapidly morphed into a political storm exposing the fissures between Hong Kong and mainland China, tensions that had long simmered below the surface, observers said.

The insult fiasco has now taken a new twist as mainlanders launched a vehement online attack on the airline, unleashing a barrage of criticism and verbal insults while others vowed to film Cathay crew and make public any further discriminatory behaviour.

Industry leaders said they feared that if the storm persisted, the recovery of Hong Kong’s tourism industry would be jeopardised.

As the airline struggled with a fast plummeting reputation, low staff morale because of drastic pay cuts and cumulative financial losses because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the debacle raised questions over whether Cathay could salvage its reputation, save itself from mainlanders’ ire and rebuild its standing in one of its most important customer bases – Chinese travellers flying from mainland routes to Hong Kong and destinations abroad.