Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific Airways has dismissed three cabin crew members after a passenger accused them of discriminating against non-English speakers, in a case that drew criticism from Chinese state media.
Airline CEO Ronald Lam expressed his apologies Tuesday to the passenger and the community over the incident, which occurred on a flight from Chengdu in southwest China to Hong Kong on Sunday. He reiterated his company’s “zero tolerance” of any serious breach of its policies and code of conduct.
“There is no compromise for such violations,” he said in a statement.
The sacking came after the passenger complained in an online post that some crew members were disrespectful to passengers who did not speak English or Cantonese, the language widely spoken in Hong Kong. The person accused them of making fun of passengers’ English ability when they asked for blankets and other disrespectful behaviour.
Cathay issued an apology on Monday on the Chinese social media platform Weibo for “the unpleasant experience” suffered by passengers on the flight but failed to pacify the anger triggered by the passenger’s post.