Hong Kong Airlines plans hiring spree, sees full capacity by mid-2024

HONG Kong Airlines said it expects to return to 75 per cent of pre-pandemic capacity by the end of this year and 100 per cent by mid-2024, after increasing operations to 30 per cent this month.

The carrier, which had a HK$49 billion (S$8.4 billion) debt restructuring plan approved by courts in December, is also raising basic pay by 8 per cent and lifting flying hourly rates for crew by up to 10 per cent, according to a statement on Thursday.

Ground staff will receive a 5 per cent basic salary pay rise.

Workers have been brought back from long pay leave and Hong Kong Airlines plans to hire 1,000 new employees by the end of 2023 – 120 pilots, 500 cabin crew and 380 ground staff, it said.

That will bring the workforce back to 60 per cent to 70 per cent of pre-Covid levels.

“We have leveraged every travel recovery opportunity over the past few months amidst unprecedented pent-up demand, and we continue to see positive business growth, particularly from the Japanese markets,” Chairman Hou Wei said in the statement. 

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“Mainland China will definitely be the next market to contribute significantly to our travel recovery efforts,” he said, adding that flights there have now doubled to 35 sectors a week. 

The carrier is flying to 15 destinations such as Tokyo, Osaka, Seoul, Bangkok, Manila, Beijing and Shanghai. Prior to the pandemic, it flew to 34 places. BLOOMBERG