A Cathay Pacific Airways plane. File photo: IC

Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific Airways announced on Monday that it plans to start the recruitment process of cabin crew in the Chinese mainland from July, in a move aimed at further increasing Putonghua language coverage, as it faces harsh criticism of crew members discriminating against Chinese mainland passengers.

The move was announced by CEO Ronald Lam in an internal message. It is part of the airline's overhaul plan, which also includes language and cultural training and other measures to address discrimination and improve services.

"With the growing number of Putonghua-speaking customers, it has always been our intention to recruit a proportion of cabin crew from the Chinese mainland after the pandemic," the company said. 

The company also vowed to widen Putonghua language coverage, taking measures including progressively increasing Putonghua-speaking crew first on Chinese mainland flights, and thereafter on all flights.

This will help ensure that every Chinese mainland flight will have consistent Putonghua in-flight announcements from August, the company said. 

The crew's Putonghua and other Asian-language capabilities will be clearly shown on their name tags, and a monthly allowance will be introduced to recognize cabin crew who can use more than one Asian language, according to the announcement. 

The company said it will start additional training for cabin crew from July, which will be designed around the customer-centric culture and aims to refresh the crew with the approach and skills necessary. 

"The new recurrent service culture training for our cabin crew is in addition to existing service culture training provided during entry, promotion and new service roll-outs," the airline said. 

Cathay Pacific has been under fire over discrimination against non-English-speakers, as a passenger was laughed at by crew members for mixing up the words "carpet" and "blanket" on a flight from Chengdu, Southwest China's Sichuan Province to Hong Kong on May 21. 

The incident sparked widespread anger in both the Chinese mainland and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) over what many view as the airline's systemic discrimination against non-English speaking passengers, especially Putonghua speakers.

Amid the growing backlash, Cathay Pacific fired three cabin crew members involved in the incident. 

On May 24, Cathay Pacific apologized for the fourth time. Also on the same day, HKSAR Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said relevant flight attendants' words and deeds had hurt the feelings of the people in both the HKSAR and the mainland, undermining Hong Kong's cherished values of respect and courtesy.

Global Times