Few main airways on this planet had been hit by the Covid pandemic as onerous as Cathay Pacific, the flagship provider of Hong Kong, or have labored so mightily to get better from it. Its enterprise was decimated by among the business’s most expansive flight bans and quarantine necessities. And the pandemic wasn’t the beginning of Cathay’s troubles.

In 2019, when Hong Kong was convulsed by pro-democracy protests, Cathay Pacific was caught within the crossfire with Beijing. Flights had been canceled or delayed by airport sit-ins involving thousands of demonstrators, amongst them staff of the airline, Cathay Pacific. Chinese officers threatened to bar crew members who joined the protests, and even voiced assist for them, from flying into China.

Turmoil grew inside Cathay Pacific. The airline’s chief executive and chairman both resigned, and new leaders started cracking down on something staff stated or posted on social media that would anger China.

In 2020, because the pandemic grounded its enterprise, Cathay shuttered its regional division, Cathay Dragon. It parked 70 unused planes within the desert in Alice Springs, Australia, and fired 5,300 staff based mostly in Hong Kong. As town lengthened the mandatory quarantines, some aircrew needed to enter three- to four-week-long “closed loop” work shifts, enduring weeks away from dwelling that had been devastating to worker morale.

Today Cathay Pacific remains to be struggling to rent sufficient pilots, flight crew and different staffers to compete with different airways. Its rivals “have emerged leaner, fitter and eager to take customers away from us,” the corporate’s chief government, Ronald Lam, stated in a video message to staff in January, making an attempt to rally them round a plan “to survive and thrive.” Cathay Pacific climbed again to 50 p.c of its prepandemic flight capability solely in March.

The issues proceed. Last week, in an inside memo, Mr. Lam knowledgeable Cathay Pacific’s employees that three staff had been fired after an audio recording went viral of cabin crew members ridiculing a passenger’s English. Mr. Lam stated the staff had prompted “significant damage to the image of Hong Kong and Cathay.”

The episode was a reminder of the delicate task Cathay Pacific faces in navigating its relationship with China. China is an important marketplace for the airline, however its economic system remains to be recovering after being closed off to Hong Kong and the remainder of the world for practically three years. Before the pandemic, Cathay flew from Hong Kong to 119 places in 35 countries, together with 26 locations in China. Its handy flight occasions from cities throughout China allowed passengers to alter planes in Hong Kong by evening and arrive within the United States or Europe by morning or early afternoon.

At the peak of the Omicron outbreak in January 2022, when the Hong Kong government banned inbound flights from nations together with the United States, Australia and Britain, the airline was flying at solely 2 p.c of its passenger flight capability.

In an announcement, the airline stated it aimed to return to 70 p.c flight capability and 80 locations by the tip of 2023, with 160 flights per week to 16 airports in mainland China.

Even after Hong Kong eliminated its Covid-related guidelines and quarantine necessities, Beijing’s decided affect over the previous British colony nonetheless threatens the repute it has loved for many years as a horny, freewheeling vacation spot for enterprise.

Just as Hong Kong was the world’s portal to China, Cathay Pacific was a vanguard in connecting rising economies in Asia to New York, London and Paris. Founded in 1946, it was one of many metropolis’s most vital manufacturers, recognized for its punctuality and premium service. The airport’s third runway opened last year to accommodate Beijing’s plans to combine Hong Kong with Macau and 9 cities within the Guangdong province right into a tech hub referred to as the Greater Bay Area.

Cathay Pacific stated it doesn’t count on a full restoration till subsequent yr. Its most quick challenges are restoring its pilot and cabin crew head depend, and growing flight capability.

To minimize prices, Cathay has slashed pilot base salaries by about 40 p.c, angering many members of its aircrew. In January, in response to the airline’s use of fewer flight attendants per flight and discount of restoration time between lengthy flights, the Cathay Pacific Flight Attendants Union launched a “work to rule” marketing campaign: discouraging flight attendants from performing duties past the scope of firm pointers. Officials with Hong Kong’s Airport Authority stated in May that they’d noticed a pattern of decrease taxiing speeds amongst Cathay pilots after the airline’s new pay construction in impact gave them a disincentive from finishing flights sooner than scheduled.

“They said we’ve got to save cash, but there’s not much point saving cash if you haven’t got an airline at the end of it,” stated Paul Weatherilt, chairman of the Hong Kong Aircrew Officers Association, a pilot’s union, and a Cathay Pacific pilot for practically three many years. “And that’s sort of the position they’re in now. They have half the airline.”

Before 2019, the airline had 3,840 pilots. Since then, 1,900 have resigned, in accordance with the Aircrew Officers Association. The variety of captains, essentially the most senior pilots, has been halved. And whereas Cathay Pacific rehired dozens of pilots from the shuttered Cathay Dragon division in 2021 and 2022, many needed to take pay cuts and demotions when accepting their provides. The lack of flights through the pandemic slowed the event of the coaching that first and second officers have to develop into captains. Senior pilot trainers and flight simulator instructors stop.

Despite its struggles, some business analysts are optimistic that Cathay Pacific will get better. The firm reported an annual revenue final yr, its first since 2019. Its flights are about 90 p.c full, which is best than earlier than the pandemic, and excessive ticket costs have helped income. During the pandemic, enterprise from cargo flights saved the airline afloat.

But no market is as vital now to Cathay Pacific, or as doubtlessly fraught, as China.

The most up-to-date hassle stemmed from the criticism of a passenger who had flown on May 21 from the southwestern Chinese metropolis of Chengdu to Hong Kong and posted a recording of flight attendants overheard within the galley laughing a few passenger who had apparently requested a “carpet” as a substitute of a blanket. “If you cannot say ‘blanket’ in English, you cannot have it,” one flight attendant stated within the recording.

The recording dominated discussions on Chinese social media, with individuals posting about what they noticed as a historical past of snubs by the airline’s flight attendants in opposition to mainland passengers. Xinhua, a state media company criticized the airline for “arrogance,” “bad service” and an absence of sincerity. “If it doesn’t correct its old habits, Cathay Pacific won’t fly far,” learn the headline of an editorial article.

Hong Kong’s high authorities chief, John Lee, joined the rebukes. “The words and deeds of the flight attendants hurt the feelings of compatriots in Hong Kong and the mainland and destroyed Hong Kong’s traditional culture and values of respect and courtesy,” he stated in a Facebook put up.

Cathay Pacific apologized on Weibo on Tuesday and stated that the airline would open an investigation. By Wednesday, three flight attendants had been fired.

“We had to respond and act swiftly, which was necessary to protect the interest of the company and in turn our people overall,” Mr. Lam wrote within the inside memo to staff on Thursday.

He added that the remarks had been a blow to the airline’s repute. “Whilst the incident has caused a setback to our rebuild journey, let’s embrace it as a valuable lesson,” he wrote.