Cathay Pacific Airways chief executive Ronald Lam says he sees great potential for the airline to scale up its adoption of artificial intelligence.

Speaking on RTHK’s "On Broadcast Drive" programme, he noted that the company already has more than 120 large-scale AI models in operation, with all office staff using AI tools in their daily work.

“Over the past year, our company’s AI usage has increased by 200 percent. I see great potential in this field,” Lam said.

“However, we still need to strike a balance between safety, reliability and innovation over AI development.”

Lam stressed that AI is only used to minimise repetitive tasks and assist human workers, rather than replace them.

On pilot recruitment and retention, he pointed out that the airline now employs around 3,800 pilots, over half of whom are locals.

He stressed that Cathay's cadet pilot programme has been running for nearly four decades and has trained thousands of aviators, with 350 graduates currently flying as active pilots for the carrier.

Lam added that pilot turnover and overall staff turnover remain very low.

Looking ahead, the Cathay CEO emphasised that alongside hardware and software upgrades, the airline will invest heavily in improving service consistency, so as to ensure that passenger inconvenience is kept to a minimum even during severe weather disruptions.


Edited by Edmond Fong