Cathay Sacks Three Cabin Crew Over Discrimination Row

Cathay Pacific on Tuesday fired three of its flight attendants over claims of discrimination against passengers who don't speak English. The airline had earlier apologised over the incident that's sparked outrage on the mainland.

Earlier on Tuesday, Cathay said that it was looking into the incident on a flight from Chengdu on Sunday, in which crew are said to have complained among themselves in English and Cantonese about the language skills of passengers.

In particular, they're said to have made fun of a passenger who asked for a "carpet" instead of a "blanket", saying that if they couldn't ask for a blanket in English, they couldn't have one.

The incident came to light in a widely-circulated post on the mainland's Xiaohongshu social media platform, which included a recording of the conversation.

The post's author said they didn't expect the flight to provide, as they put it, "a front row ticket to the door leading to the ugliness of human nature".

The People's Daily also weighed in on the incident , expressing shock and criticising Cathay's corporate culture for "worshipping foreigners and respecting Hong Kong people", but looking down on Mainlanders.

In an online commentary, the state-owned newspaper said the airline should establish rules and regulations to "stop the unhealthy trend from the root."

Cathay posted on social media on Tuesday night that it had completed its investigation into the incident and had dismissed three of its staff according to the company's regulations.

The airline's Chief Executive Ronald Lam said there would be "zero tolerance" towards all forms of misconduct. He also said he would lead a cross-departmental task force to look into the quality of services provided by Cathay Pacific.