Thread by @NewtonMark

Silly airline story: Last year, Cathay closed their Australian base. Few hundred pilots plus flight attendants, caterers, freight handlers, etc lost their jobs.

Some were offered transfers, though. #avgeek

In the airline industry, outfits like Cathay are dream gigs. They only fly international in big jets. Their smallest aircraft is an Airbus 330. A pilot flying charter in Piper Navajo or Cessna Caravan hits the big league with Cathay, straight onto the flight deck of a heavy. /2

For older pilots close to retirement, they're probably already Captains on A350s and B777s. They've mostly made the career achievements they want, and Cathay could lay them off with big payouts. Early retirement. LIving the dream. /3

For young pilots, though, the pandemic is a career catastrophe. Having advanced to the flight deck of a big jet, after being laid off they'd be back to flying Amazon deliveries to Broken Hill in piston twins for the next ten years. Might never get another opportunity as good. /4

So Cathay said, "Hey look, we're closing our Australian base, and we're going to give big fat payouts to everyone we're laying off. Couple or few years of salary, you'll be on easy street. BUT! If you want to stick around for the long haul, we'll also offer relocation to HQ." /5

Some of the younger pilots, the ones who'd already fought their way through the incredibly shitty jobs at the bottom end of the greasy pole and had no desire to go back to them, stuck their hands up for that. "Great!" said Cathay, "Sit tight, we'll sort out the details." /6

(and make no mistake: The jobs at the bottom end of the aviation industry are definitely shitty. Anyone who's climbed out of those holes has no desire to climb back into them) /7

Anyway: Voluntary redundancy closed, and all the oldies walked away with their lump sums and are now having a great time. The ones who wanted to keep their jobs waited for head office to arrange their visas to live in Hong Kong for the next phase of their careers. /8

And time passed. And passed. And passed.

Until eventually Hong Kong, having bulldozed through the Umbrella Revolution and everything that came after, said, "We're China now and there are lots of Chinese pilots who need post-pandemic jobs, so we're not approving those visas." /9

So with no visas, and no voluntary redundancy rounds open, and the Australian base already having closed months ago, those early-career pilots were up shit creek. Cathay gave them a hearty wave and told them to fuck off and have a nice life. /10

Related: There seems to be a lot of instructors floating around General Aviation flying schools with Boeing 777 and Airbus 330 type endorsements teaching in Cessna 172s and Piper Warriors. /end