Cathay Pacific fires 3 flight crew over discriminatory behaviour towards non-English speaking passengers

Cathay Pacific Airways on Wednesday fired three flight attendants over their discriminatory behavior towards non-English speaking passengers in a recent incident which came to light earlier this week.

The Hong Kong-based airline also issued an apology over the incident which occurred on the CX987 flight from the southwestern Chinese city of Chengdu to Hong Kong.

"I would like to reiterate that Cathay Pacific takes a 'zero tolerance' approach to serious violations of company rules and ethics by individual employees and will not tolerate them," said CEO Ronald Lam.

"Most importantly, we must ensure that all Cathay Pacific staff respect passengers from different backgrounds and cultures and provide professional and consistent service in all areas served," Lam said.

The incident came to light after a passenger on the flight posted about it on social media, stating that the flight attendants complained amongst themselves about passengers in English and Cantonese.

They passengers claimed that the flight attendants made fun of others for asking for a carpet instead of a blanket in English.

"If you cannot say blanket in English, you cannot have it. ... Carpet is on the floor. Feel free if you want to lie on it," a flight attendant said, according to a recording that was circulated widely online. (With agency inputs)