Just because a company did not make a profit for the first time in 35 years does not mean that it has to cut costs that drastically.

Look what Cathay had to go through this year alone - first it was the "No smiles" campaign launched by their flight attendants over , again, pay disputes, and now "No show" campaign by the pilots. What next? "No bags" by the baggage handlers?

Cathay really needs to buckle up and take management issues at hand. All this "pilots are calling in sick and we are doing all we can" is simply inexcusable. First they alienated a huge percentage of their Marco Polo members when they joined the "big league" oneWorld, and now this.

Take a lesson and see who is raking in the profits in Asia year after year. Do not blame the "asian economy". Their competitor is also in Asia, and they seem to be doing a lot better than Cathay is.

The most important issue after this calms down is...is AsiaMiles going to offer double miles for people to take Cathay again?