(Yicai) March 11 -- Cathay Pacific Airways is recruiting more staff from the Chinese mainland, including trainee pilots and flight attendants, to address staffing needs magnified by its HKD100 billion (USD12.9 billion) investment plan.

Hong Kong’s flagship carrier hosted a series of hiring events for flight crew in the mainland over the weekend of March 8.

Though the airline’s flight capacity has returned to pre-pandemic levels, the need for talent has further increased after the company announced its big investment plan last August, Director of People Patricia Hwang told Yicai.

Under that plan, Cathay Pacific will make the investment over seven years to enhance customer experience and reinforce Hong Kong’s position as a global aviation hub. The plan includes upgrading its fleet, cabin products, and lounges as well as its digital and sustainability leadership, supporting growth for customers, employees, and the city, the company said.

Cathay Pacific had more than 30,000 employees as of Dec. 31, with around 3,000 from the Chinese mainland, according to Hwang. The figure is expected to reach 4,000 by the end of this year, as the airline plans to hire more cabin crew and trainee pilots, along with maintenance personnel, information technology workers, and others, she noted.

After the Covid-19 pandemic, Cathay Pacific stepped up the hiring of front-line staff in the mainland. Chief Executive Ronald Lam said last year that the carrier planned to increase its cabin crew staff to 10,000 by the end of this year, with 10 percent to 20 percent of them coming from the mainland.

Lam told Yicai last year that Cathay Pacific expected to restore its flight capacity to pre-pandemic levels by the end of 2024, but the recovery was delayed to this year due to labor constraints.

Many other carriers also started big hiring drives after the pandemic, including China Eastern Airlines, Air China, and Hong Kong Airlines.

According to statistics from China’s Civil Aviation Administration, some 97,300 certified flight attendants were working in the country as of the end of 2021, down from 102,300 at the end of 2020. The number continued to decline in 2022.

Most airlines only restarted hiring in 2023. By the end of that year, the number of flight attendants working in China had increased by 1,827 to 86,827, but that was still far below pre-pandemic levels.

Editor: Futura Costaglione