Today's Jakarta-Hong Kong flights on schedule

Today's Jakarta-Hong Kong flights on schedule

JAKARTA (JP): Cathay Pacific said there would be no delay in
its Jakarta-Hong Kong service on Tuesday despite the cancellation
of its Indonesian flights on Monday.

The airline's marketing communications manager for Jakarta,
Ida Bayuni, said on Monday the Jakarta-Hong Kong flights for
Tuesday were on schedule.

However, she said flights for the rest of the week were still
uncertain.

"We will inform you about our other flights, including
Wednesday and Friday's CX776 and CX777 services, as soon as we
have confirmation," she told The Jakarta Post.

Since Friday, Cathay has canceled dozens of flights worldwide
after a number of pilots failed to show up for work, claiming to
be too sick to fly.

The action is assumed to be related to an ongoing wage
dispute, which first sparked when the airline told about half of
its 1,300 pilots to either accept salary cuts of up to 22 percent
in return for stock options in the company, early retirement or
face dismissal.

Cathay canceled 33 flights on Monday, including flights CX777,
CX776, CX785 and CX784 connecting Jakarta and Denpasar to Hong
Kong.

The airline is scheduled Tuesday to fly to Hong Kong from
Jakarta and Denpasar.

From Denpasar, a staff member at the airline's reservation
office told the Post that confirmation of the status of
Tuesday's flights could only be given to would-be passengers on
Tuesday morning.

"Flights from Denpasar to Hong Kong have been canceled since
Saturday. Sorry, I cannot give you the number of passengers
affected by the cancellations," the staff member, who asked for
anonymity, said.

She said passengers had been transferred to other airlines,
including Singapore Airlines, Malaysian Airlines and Thai
Airlines, without additional charge.

According to Ida, the Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific has
arranged additional flights with six airlines to handle stranded
passengers flying out of Hong Kong.

About 400 passengers were left stranded in Hong Kong on Sunday
due to the limited number of Cathay flights and other airlines'
inability to absorb stranded passengers.

"Together, they (additional flights) provide additional
capacity of around 3,000 seats," she said.

"We will continue to work with other airlines to provide
extra seats for our passengers to minimize any disruptions," Ida
said. (cst)