Cathay Pacific has relaunched their Cadet Pilot training program in collaboration with the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, as the carrier hopes to recruit and train over 800 local cadet pilots by 2025.
On Monday (March 28, 2022), Cathay Pacific announced the relaunch of their Cadet Pilot training program in collaboration with the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU). The original program was suspended in March 2020 due to the emergence of the global COVID-19 pandemic, but the carrier now hopes to train over 800 local cadet pilots by 2025. Students in the 55-60 week training course will undergo their ground theory lectures under the auspices of PolyU in Hong Kong, with successful candidates then beginning flight training in either Adelaide (Australia) or Phoenix (U.S.), before returning to ‘Cathay City’ for multi-crew simulator training.
In Monday’s announcment, Cathay Pacific’s Chief Operations and Service Delivery Officer, Greg Hughes, said,
“We are delighted to be recommencing our Cadet Pilot programme, and also to be launching these exciting new integrated courses thanks to the support and expertise of PolyU and its professional instructors. We would also like to thank the Civil Aviation Department (CAD) for its guidance and support for the development of the new training programme. Our people are an essential part of our success as an airline, and we have a very strong pipeline of talent that will enable us to continue to provide the high levels of service and operational excellence for which the Cathay Pacific team is renowned. We look forward to welcoming candidates who will be starting the new cadet courses and becoming part of the Cathay Pacific team upon graduation.
“We recommenced recruiting local pilots in summer last year, including some 200 eligible, qualified pilots for Cathay Pacific, and altogether about 300 for the Group’s airlines. As Hong Kong’s home airline, we are committed to continuing to invest in its long-term future as a global aviation hub. PolyU, and Hong Kong, have the potential to become a centre for excellence and industry-leading aviation training that enables not just Cathay Pacific, but other airlines, to train cadets using a similar model. We hope that these new courses will inspire the next generation of prospective pilots in our home city.”
Hong Kong Polytechnic’s Dean of Faculty of Engineering, Ir Professor H.C. Man, added,
“PolyU is glad that the collaboration with Cathay Pacific in the Cadet Pilot training programme will provide opportunities to our younger generation to realise their dreams of becoming a commercial pilot. We are confident that such joint effort will further strengthen Hong Kong’s position as an international aviation centre.”
Cathay Pacific hopes to welcome around 190 candidates in 2022, and will gradually increase capacity with the ability to take in between 240 and 300 per year from 2023 through 2025. Since the launch of the Cadet Pilot program in 1988, the airline has trained over 1,000 cadet pilots from Hong Kong. Currently, Flight Training Adelaide (FTA) is Cathay Pacific’s cadet training provider and has supported the carrier’s Cadet Pilot program since 1994.
The first class of 24 candidates started the integrated course in Hong Kong today (March 28, 2022) and are scheduled to start flight training in October after they complete the ground theory portion of the program. In addition to the new integrated courses at PolyU, Cathay Pacific will conduct four additional training courses based on the original program module in Adelaide for 2022. The next class of 24 candidates are scheduled to start the Adelaide program course in late April.
Cathay Pacific also plans to onboard the first of their fully-trained and qualified cadets who were unable to join the airline in 2020 due to the pandemic, and the carrier expects to onboard all 150 of these cadets throughout 2022. Enrollment for the program is currently open and interested candidates can find application criteria and enrollment information by clicking here.
Source: Cathay Pacific