HONG KONG – Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd announced on Monday that it will initiate various measures in July to enhance Mandarin language proficiency and cultural understanding among its employees, including the recruitment of cabin staff from mainland China. This decision follows the recent termination of three crew members due to discrimination concerns.
An internal memo, obtained by Reuters, stated that comprehensive cultural training would be provided to all cabin crew members, with an emphasis on expanding Mandarin-speaking services within the team.
The implementation of these measures comes in the wake of passenger allegations of bias against non-English speakers, resulting in the dismissal of three flight attendants and drawing criticism from Chinese state media.
“Our primary objective within this initiative is to enhance our crew’s proficiency in Putonghua, as a growing number of our customers are Mandarin speakers,” explained Ronald Lam, CEO of Cathay Pacific, in the memo. It is worth noting that Mandarin is commonly referred to as Putonghua. The discriminatory incident in May garnered significant attention on mainland Chinese social media platforms, leading to widespread condemnation from both Chinese state media and Hong Kong government officials, including the esteemed leader John Lee.
According to an online post by a passenger who was on a flight from Chengdu, a city in southwest China, to Hong Kong, flight attendants were overheard mocking passengers in English and Cantonese. The post claimed that the attendants ridiculed individuals who requested a carpet instead of a blanket, asserting that if they couldn’t express “blanket” in English, they would not receive one. The recorded conversation, widely circulated on the internet, captured a flight attendant remarking, “Carpet is on the floor. Feel free if you want to lie on it.”
While the authenticity of the recording could not be independently verified by Reuters, it nevertheless ignited a wave of criticism on various social media platforms.
