Cathay Pacific to cut 600 jobs, including 190 managerial positions

Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd, Asia's biggest airline, will cut 600 jobs, including 190 managerial positions, as part of the biggest revamp in two decades to help revive earnings.

The changes will be conveyed to the majority affected employees today and over the next month, with most of the restructuring completed by the end of 2017, Cathay said in a statement today. Frontline positions, including pilots or cabin crew will not be affected, it said. The group had around 33,000 people as of June 2016, data compiled by Bloomberg showed.

''We've had to make tough but necessary decisions for the future of our business and our customers,'' Rupert Hogg, who became the chief executive officer on 1 May, said in the statement. ''As we look to the future we will have a new structure that will make us leaner, faster and more responsive to our customers' needs. It is the first step in the transformation of our business.''

The carrier was at one time a lead player in Asia's premium air travel market with few serious rivals, but it had hit turbulence, even as travel boomed in the region.

Some 190 management jobs will go while a further 400 non-management staff will lose their jobs, the company said.

According to Cathay Pacific, the cuts representing 25 per cent of the management staff and 18 per cent of non-managerial positions at its Hong Kong head office, were the first step in a three-year programme announced this year.

''We have had to make tough but necessary decisions for the future of our business and our customers,'' Cathay Pacific chief executive Rupert Hogg said in a statement.

''Changes in people's travel habits and what they expect from us, evolving competition and a challenging business outlook have created the need for significant change.''