Cathay Pacific Airline to Cut 600 of Jobs in Major Shake-up

Hong Kong-based airline Cathay Pacific on Monday announced that it will cut around 600 people at its headquaters. Around 190 management and 400 non-managerial employees will go, representing 25% of management and 18% of non-managerial positions respectively, according to (Xinhua) news agency. 

    The company said it is part of a transformation program to make Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon more effective by improving the speed and quality of decision-making and putting a greater focus on its customers. The changes will affect senior, middle management and non-managerial roles at the group's headquarters in Hong Kong. Most of the restructuring is expected to be completed by the end of 2017. No front line employees, pilots or cabin crew will be affected by Monday's announcement. 

    Cathay Pacific reported an attributable loss of 575 million HK dollars (about 74 million US dollars) last year, which is the first full-year loss for the company since 2008. Cathay Pacific employs around 20,000 people in Hong Kong. It last announced a major round of redundancies during the Asian financial crisis in 2008. It then cut around 2,000 jobs.