Cathay expects record profits and pilots expect 30pc more pay

HONG KONG's Cathay Pacific Airways has revealed that soaring air cargo sales volumes in 2010 will likely mean the company's biggest profit ever.

But this success also comes with demands from pilots for a 30 per cent pay increase over four years and the threat of go-slows if demands are not met.

"We expect to make a profit of not less than HK$12.5 billion [US$1.6 billion] for Cathay, the biggest profit of all time," said chief operating officer John Slosar, designated to become Cathay's new CEO when Tony Tyler leaves the airline in March to become chief executive of the Geneva-based International Air Transport Association (IATA).

Mr Slosar attributed a 30 per cent increase in the carrier's air cargo sales during the first half of the year as a major contributing factor to its 2010 success, reported London's International Freighting Weekly. "Cargo has been very strong. In the first half of 2009, cargo was very bad, but in the second half it picked up and carried on into 2010," he said.

An increase in demand for air cargo and insufficient global capacity also helped put Cathay among the top-five worldwide cargo carriers.
(Source:www.schednet.com)