Cathay Pacific sacks pilot, stewardess over cockpit photos
A Cathay Pacific passenger jet takes off from Hong Kong. The airline sacked a pilot and a flight attendant after photographs of them havig oral sex in a cockpit appeared online.
Hong Kong airline Cathay Pacific has sacked a pilot and a stewardess after photographs of them engaged in oral sex in a cockpit appeared online.
Chief Executive John Slosar said the unidentified couple were "no longer employees of the company," according to DPA news agency.
The existence of the photos was first reported in Chinese blogs a week ago, prompting the airline to launch an internal investigation.
Industry sources said they suspected the photos were a malicious stunt designed to hurt the company, but the company confirmed the images were authentic.
Slosar said the passenger jet was not in flight when the photos were taken.
"I find any behavior that recklessly soils the reputation of our company or our team members as totally unacceptable," Slosar said.
"That's why we moved as swiftly as we could to ascertain the facts of the case, and to take decisive action."
The woman in the photograph was wearing a Cathay Pacific stewardess uniform, while the pilot's face was not shown, GlobalPost reported earlier.
Chinese media reported that the pair were a couple and the pilot claimed the pictures had been stolen from his personal computer and distributed online without his knowledge.
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