Cathay Pacific ‘must and will comply’ with Chinese demands over protests

Cathay Pacific says it will comply with the rules imposed by China, banning staff who supported protests from working on flights to China and through its airspace. But it’s also been reported that Cathay won’t have a special list of staff who had openly supported the protest.China’s aviation regulator Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) had ordered the airline to hand over identifying information of staff on China-bound flights starting Sunday. Also, staff who were deemed to have supported “illegal protests” in Hong Kong were banned from flights landing in China or travelling through its airspace.Last Saturday, Cathay’s CEO Rupert Hogg said to employees that the flag carrier of Hong Kong would be obliged to obey the new rules.Hogg said in the message that Cathay Pacific Group’s operations in Mainland China were key to the company’s business. In addition to flying in and out of China, a large number of routes both to Europe and to the US also fly through China’s airspace.Hogg further explained that Cathay was therefore legally required to follow CAAC regulations, and “must and will comply” with its demands.South China Morning Post reported that Cathay staff have been worried about being stopped from flying to China if they had openly supported the protests, while the airline reassured there won’t be any special crew list.Meanwhile, Cathay also confirmed it had suspended a pilot who has been accused of rioting after allegedly participating in the Hong Kong protests at the end of July. The company also said two airport ground staff had been sacked – it’s believed they were accused of leaking the travel details of a Hong Kong police soccer team travelling to China.