Ninety percent of staff at Cathay Pacific Airways have agreed to take unpaid leave in a second round of cost-saving measures, with management saying the company's recovery from the coronavirus pandemic would be a "slow" one.
Augustus Tang Kin-wing, CEO of the beleaguered Hong Kong flag carrier, said even more employees signed up for a further six months of pay cuts from July until the end of the year.
"I am truly humbled to see more than 90% of employees across the Cathay group take part in this scheme, an even higher percentage than in our first Special Leave Scheme.
"There is clearly a strong collective desire to see our company survive and thrive, which I am confident we will," he said in an internal memo seen by the South China Morning Post.
The first round of unpaid leave, from March to June, saw around 80% of staff subscribe to pay cuts.
The airline is embarking on a sweeping restructure to survive the pandemic, fresh from unveiling a HK$39 billion bailout, with the government providing most of the cash in exchange for two non-voting boardroom seats and the option to take a 6.08% take in the firm.
Tang added: "As you know, the challenges facing the industry are significant and recovery will be a slow one. Further tough decisions to secure our future competitiveness will of course be necessary, but we hope to gradually increase frequencies and destinations when market and regulatory conditions allow."
According to Cathay Pacific's 2019 sustainability report, newly released this week, the group has a staff strength of 34,258.
The pandemic has led to Cathay grounding most of its planes with daily passenger volume during the worst period of the coronavirus crisis falling to just less than 1% of normal figures.
Since February this year, the airline has been burning cash at a rate of up to $3 billion monthly.
A combination of reduced flying, pay cuts, job cuts affecting its North American cabin crew bases and the impending receipt of a government subsidy to keep Hong Kong workers employed will help slash the airline's wage bill - the single largest cost item after fuel.
Cathay said weeks ago that it had about 27,000 staff eligible for the government's Employment Support Scheme.
The airline spent $20.1 billion on staff costs in 2019, or a fifth of total expenditure.
Speaking on the sidelines of the airline's annual general meeting last week, Cathay Pacific Group chairman Patrick Healy told the Post the company had not yet come to any decision on whether it would apply for the second round of the government scheme.
"We don't know yet. We'll cross that bridge when we get to it," he said.
Asked if the timing of the company's consideration would be tied to restructuring decisions in the fourth quarter, the chairman added: "I don't really see a connection. Those are decisions we will continue to evaluate as we go forward."
Other airlines, in an industry hammered by Covid-19, have also benefitted from the government-backed scheme. China Airlines, China Southern Airlines and Eva Air received $6.1 million, $692,250 and $1.94 million respectively.