Recently, Cathay Pacific has recruited the first batch of mainland flight attendants (flight attendants) to complete the training and assessment, and four of them from Shanghai, Nanjing, Xi'an and Guangzhou made their debut to meet the media and will start their professional flying careers in January.

As early as last year, Cathay Pacific Airways has launched a full-scale recruitment programme and recruited flight attendants for the first time in the Mainland. It is learnt that the first batch of more than 100 Mainland flight attendants from different provinces and cities have completed a seven-week training and assessment in Hong Kong, including emergency and safety training, technical and service skills training, etc.

After many controversies and turmoil at Cathay Pacific, people can't help but wonder what kind of changes will the addition of these mainland flight attendants bring to Cathay Pacific.

Four representatives of Cathay Pacific's first batch of mainland flight attendants made their debut. Photo by Chinanews reporter Chen Yongnuo

01

The mainland will become the second largest source of Cathay Pacific flight attendants

Cathay Pacific's Director of Services, Mr Ng Kit Man, said Cathay Pacific has always been committed to strengthening the connection between Hong Kong and the Mainland and the rest of the world, giving full play to its unique positioning and advantages of "being rooted in Hong Kong, backed by the motherland and connected to the world".

Cathay Pacific aims to recruit about 2025,1500 flight attendants from the mainland by <>, which will become Cathay Pacific's second largest source of flight attendants after Hong Kong.

Ng believes that the recruitment of mainland flight attendants is a very important measure to improve service and strengthen the diversity of the team. "We are seeing an increase in the proportion of Mandarin-speaking passengers. In the recruitment process, we also found that there are many talents in the mainland. She also introduced that in addition to the "customer first" attitude, fluency in English, Mandarin and other languages will be a very important consideration when recruiting.

Mainland flight attendants demonstrate the results of cabin service training. Photo by Chinanews reporter Chen Yongnuo

Commenting on the performance of the first batch of Mainland flight attendants, Ng Kit-man said, "I am very happy to see that the new colleagues recruited locally, in the Mainland and elsewhere can integrate and learn, train and assess together, which is also a very memorable experience for them." Wu also hopes that this new class of colleagues can enjoy their flying career.

02

Mainland Flight Attendants:

In Mandarin and dialects

Make guests feel at home

Just as Cathay Pacific has always emphasized multiculturalism, Ms. Ding, one of the first mainland flight attendants from Shanghai, mentioned in an interview with reporters that language will be her biggest advantage compared to flight attendants from Hong Kong or other regions. "I can speak Mandarin, English, Shanghainese, and feel very familiar when you hear your own language. "She wants to make them feel at home.

Mainland flight attendants demonstrate the results of safety training. Photo by Chinanews reporter Chen Yongnuo

Ms. Wang, a flight attendant from Xi'an, has worked in mainland hotels, "so I think I have a better understanding of the needs of mainland passengers and can provide them with better services." ”

In her daily training, Ms. Ding mentioned that she benefited a lot from a variety of courses. "Our passengers and colleagues come from different countries and regions of the world, and we need to learn to respect the culture and ethnicity of each country. She believes that the knowledge she has learned in the classroom about the local customs will be of great benefit to her future flights.

Mainland flight attendants demonstrate the results of safety training. Photo by Chinanews reporter Chen Yongnuo

03

Cathay Pacific has been caught in a storm of discrimination

In May last year, a netizen posted on social media that flight attendants on Cathay Pacific flight CX5 from Chengdu to Hong Kong discriminated against "non-English speaking passengers", saying that they heard flight attendants complaining and discriminating against passengers in English and Cantonese, and uploaded audio recordings.

In response to the incident, Cathay Pacific issued several statements apologizing and said that it would immediately launch an internal investigation, deal with it seriously, and dismiss the three flight attendants involved. Cathay Pacific Chief Executive Officer Ronald Lam said Cathay Pacific will not tolerate any serious breaches of the company's rules and ethics by individual employees.

(Han Xingtong Chen Xiaoxian Source: Chinanews WeChat public account)