Hong Kong Air Cargo have embarked on a substantial recruitment drive this week to increase their cockpit crew head count by 14 percent.

The exercise which aims to engage both First Officers and Captains has unsurprisingly had no shortage of applications. The selection committee now has the challenge to shot list candidates and make their final decision once candidates have undergone simulator sessions.

This is good news for local Hong Kong pilots at a time when the aviation world continues to suffer from the pandemic and indeed good news for Hong Kong as a cargo hub.

Whilst Covid-19 has decimated passenger flights, cargo flights have largely seen an increase in demand. This was true throughout 2020 and is showing strong figures for the first quarter of 2021. This is in part due the decreased number of passenger flights and a shortage of belly capacity.

Mr William Chan, Director Government and Public Affairs, Hong Kong Air Cargo said
“We submitted applications for 9 new routes several months ago and we are hopeful that we will soon receive approval. We need to be ready to embrace these new challenges. There is a wealth of experienced and professional pilots in Hong Kong right now and it makes sense to take advantage of the situation, we look forward to welcoming the new recruits to Hong Kong Air Cargo ‘.

Hong Kong Air Cargo currently operates a fleet of five Airbus A330-200 freighters.