The Government is trying to bring Cathay Pacific and its pilots back to the negotiating table as the dispute drags into its third week.
Commissioner for Labour Pamela Tan Kam Mi-wah said yesterday that officials had been talking to both sides, although she declined to go into details.
'We have never stopped shuttling between the two parties since their negotiations ended on June 28. I hope they will take the overall interests of Hong Kong into account and settle the dispute as soon as possible.'
But she would not elaborate. 'It's confidential and it's not proper for me to disclose details at this stage,' she said.
The Aircrew Officers' Association, the union representing most pilots, will hold an extraordinary general meeting on Wednesday, raising the prospect of escalated industrial action.
Yesterday, legislator Lee Cheuk-yan called on Cathay to reinstate the 52 pilots it had sacked.
Mr Lee, general secretary of the Confederation of Trade Unions, also called on the Government to appoint a conciliator.
He said Cathay's decision to sack the pilots would only strengthen the union's resolve, and that the dispute would drag on until the management gave them back their jobs. 'Cathay has closed the door to negotiation,' Mr Lee said. 'They want to destroy the union.'
Meanwhile, the airline yesterday returned the first of its 17 chartered aircraft, which was part of its contingency plans to tackle the pilots' work-to-rule campaign. Two more aircraft are due to be returned over the weekend.
Cathay said in the nine days since the first chartered aircraft arrived in Hong Kong, the 17 planes had operated a total of 200 flights. It said more of them would be returned over the coming week as the airline gradually restored its full schedule.
Yesterday Cathay operated 130 flights of its normal schedule of 138 flights and was in the process of restoring a number of temporarily suspended destinations.
Five destinations will be restored by next Saturday. They are: Penang, Cairns, Colombo, Delhi and Adelaide. Flights to New York will resume on August 1, which will leave Karachi and Manchester still suspended.