Cathay Pacific Aiming to Recruit 800+ Cadet Pilots in 2023-2024

Dark/Light Mode (29/06/23)  Cathay Pacific this week celebrated the first group of cadet pilots to graduate since the pandemic.

Having completed the 55-week Cadet Pilot Training Programme, the 19 graduates will join the airline as Second Officers from July.

Currently, there are more than 400 cadet pilots in training.

“It has all along been the government’s policy to promote localisation by encouraging local airlines to invest resources in training local cadet pilots. We firmly believe that in the long run, only by enlarging the pool of local aviation talent can we sustain the development of Hong Kong’s aviation industry,” said Lam Sai-hung, Secretary for Transport and Logistics. “In this regard, we very much appreciate Cathay Pacific’s continuous efforts in promoting manpower training, especially in nurturing local aviation talent.”

Cathay Pacific A330 reg: B-LBK. Picture by Steven Howard of TravelNewsAsia.com

As of this month, more than 1,000 of Cathay Pacific’s pilots are graduates of the Cadet Pilot Training Programme. They include 185 Captains, of which more than 40 are Training Captains. The airline also has seven management pilots who originated from this programme.

The airline aims to recruit more than 800 cadet pilots in 2023 and 2024 combined, in addition to the approximately 250 cadet pilots recruited in 2022.

Cathay currently operates two parallel courses for training cadets. This latest group of 19 graduates completed their cadet-training activities as part of the airline’s original, long-standing programme hosted by Flight Training Adelaide (FTA).

The airline also developed its new integrated course to expand the training opportunities for cadet pilots. The first batch of cadets on this integrated programme, developed with Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) and more recently its own in-house Cathay Academy, are expected to graduate in August this year.

The integrated course sees cadets undertake theoretical ground training in Hong Kong, flight training at AeroGuard Flight Training Center in Arizona or FTA in Adelaide, and multi-crew simulator training at Cathay City.

A total of 177 cadet pilots are expected to graduate from both programmes in 2023.

“Developing aviation talent has always been at the heart of who we are as Hong Kong’s home carrier. This programme has given us numerous success stories, has helped us cultivate outstanding pilots within the industry, and is a testament to our commitment to develop our future aviation professionals,” said Lavinia Lau, Cathay Pacific Chief Customer and Commercial Officer. “To all our graduating cadet pilots who spent long hours of studying and training to get where they are today – congratulations to all of you and I want to acknowledge all the hard work and determination you have shown in your training, despite the pandemic.”

Enrolment for the Cathay Pacific Cadet Pilot programme is open.

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