The Handover of 1997 and Its Effects on the Hong Kong Aviation Industry
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47611/jsrhs.v12i4.5448Keywords:
profitability cycles, Handover, Cathay Pacific, political economy of Hong Kong, aviation industry, Asian Financial crisis, Sino-British Joint, career shocksAbstract
This paper explains the logistics behind the Handover Hong Kong on July 1st, 1997— an event transition Hong Kong from a sovereign British state to the special administrative region status of the People’s Republic of China. More importantly, it propounds that the Handover of Hong Kong had an indirect but nevertheless negative effect on Hong Kong’s Aviation Industry— most notably affecting the leading Hong Kong airline and air transport company Cathay Pacific. It explores this idea through a critical secondary literature review— intended to analyse the events occurring in Hong Kong prior and during the year 1997 alongside its effects on the industry. Furthermore, employing a case study design on Cathay Pacific enables the research paper to carry out a more structural analysis of the company’s performances in the late 20th century. It takes a macro-to-micro approach for its structure; first explaining the general trends and resilience of the global aviation sector, through developing an analytical lens. Then it uses Cathay Pacific’s performance to evidence the generalised theories. Overall, Hong Kong’s aviation industry saw only slightly deviated results to both empirical and theoretical behaviours of global aviation and air transport airlines following events often causing what is known as a career shock: a disruptive and extraordinary event caused by factors outside an individual’s control.
Downloads
References or Bibliography
Airlines cut losses in 2022; return to profit in 2023 (2022) IATA. Available at: https://www.iata.org/en/pressroom/2022-releases/2022-12-06-01/ (Accessed: 01 July 2023).
Akkermans, J., Richardson, J. and Kraimer, M.L. (2020) The COVID-19 crisis as a career shock: Implications for careers and vocational behavior, Journal of vocational behavior. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7205633/ (Accessed: 29 June 2023).
Cathay Pacific Airways Limited. (2022a) Annual report 2022 - Cathay pacific. Available at: https://www.cathaypacific.com/content/dam/cx/about-us/investor-relations/interim-annual-reports/en/2022_cx_annual_report_en.pdf (Accessed: 01 July 2023).
Cathay Pacific Airways Limited. (2022b) Cathay Pacific Airways Limited annual result. Available at: https://www.cathaypacific.com/content/dam/cx/about-us/investor-relations/announcements/en/20230308_cxannual_result_en.pdf (Accessed: 01 July 2023).
Chen, L. (no date) -A case study of Cathay Pacific airline - diva, Climate Change Conflict in Sustainable Aviation. Available at: https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:473370/FULLTEXT01.pdf (Accessed: 02 July 2023).
Corti, L., Foster, J., & Thompson, P. (1995). Archiving qualitative research: Social research update (Working Paper No. 10). Guildford, UK: University of Surrey.
Dunn, L. (1985) Hong Kong after the Sino-British declaration - jstor. Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/2617479 (Accessed: 01 July 2023).
Editorial, Fk. (2023) Hong Kong Airlines stocks list 2023, Airlines Stocks List Hong Kong 2023 (HKEX). Available at: https://fknol.com/hk/stock/airlines.php (Accessed: 01 July 2023).
Flight Global (2019) CNAC challenges Cathay at Hong Kong, Flight Global. Available at: https://www.flightglobal.com/cnac-challenges-cathay-at-hong-kong/16520.article (Accessed: 01 July 2023).
Fung, M.K.-Y. and Law, J. (2006) Economic contribution to Hong Kong of the Aviation Sector: A value ..., Economic Contribution to Hong Kong of the Aviation Sector: A Value-Added Approach. Edited by L. No. Available at: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.2753/CES1097-1475390602 (Accessed: 02 July 2023).
Hobson, J.S.P. (1999) Hong Kong: The transition to 1997, Tourism Management. Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/026151779400004T (Accessed: 02 July 2023).
IATA (2021) Economic performance of the airline industry - IATA, IATA Economics. Available at: https://www.iata.org/en/iata-repository/publications/economic-reports/airline-industry-economic-performance---october-2021---report/ (Accessed: August 2023).
Jiang, H. and Hansman, R.J. (2006) An analysis of profit cycles in the airline industry, An Analysis of Profit Cycles in the Airline Industry. Available at: http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/34988 (Accessed: 01 July 2023).
Lubinski, C. and Wad’Hani, R.D. (2019) Geopolitical jockeying: Economic nationalism and ... - wiley online library, Geopolitical jockeying: Economic nationalism and multinational strategy in historical perspective. Available at: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/smj.3022 (Accessed: 01 July 2023).
Shu, H. (2023) Hong Kong: The Rise and Fall of a successful political compromise, Economic History. Available at: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/economichistory/2023/03/03/hong-kong-the-rise-and-fall-of-a-successful-political-compromise/ (Accessed: 01 July 2023).
Statista (2022) Airlines worldwide - profit and loss 2004-2022, Statista. Available at: https://www.statista.com/statistics/268330/profit-of-airlines-worldwide/ (Accessed: August 2023).
Strategy, A. (1998) Cathay Pacific: Surviving the Asian maelstrom, Aviation Strategy - Cathay Pacific: surviving the Asian maelstrom. Available at: https://aviationstrategy.aero/newsletter/Sep-1998/6/Cathay-Pacific:surviving-the-Asian-maelstrom (Accessed: 02 July 2023).
Wong, J.D. (2020) Flexible corporate nationality: Transforming Cathay Pacific for the shifting geopolitics of Hong Kong in the closing decades of british colonial rule: Enterprise & society, Cambridge Core. Available at: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/enterprise-and-society/article/abs/flexible-corporate-nationality-transforming-cathay-pacific-for-the-shifting-geopolitics-of-hong-kong-in-the-closing-decades-of-british-colonial-rule/C11239B29FABD70115178060ACF7855D (Accessed: 02 July 2023).
Yiu, C.Y., K. Ng K. H., Yu, S. C. M., and Yu, C. W. (2022) Sustaining aviation workforce after the pandemic: Evidence from hong kong aviation students toward skills, specialised training, and career prospects through a mixed-method approach, Transport policy. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9485864/ (Accessed: 01 July 2023).
Zhang, Y. and Round, D.K. (2008) China’s airline deregulation since 1997 and the driving forces behind ..., China’s Airline Deregulation Since 1997 and Driving Forces Behind the 2002 Airline Consolidations. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/222297312_China’s_airline_deregulation_since_1997_and_the_driving_forces_behind_the_2002_airline_consolidations (Accessed: 02 July 2023).
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
Copyright (c) 2023 Gareth Fung; Suraj Nair
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Copyright holder(s) granted JSR a perpetual, non-exclusive license to distriute & display this article.
