Cynthia flying high into retreat
THERE were plenty of tears when Cynthia Lee worked her last shift at Cathay Pacific in Cairns on Sunday.
It was a tough day for the international carrier’s manager on duty and for those who have known and worked alongside her for many of her 41 years with the airline.
Malaysian-born Cynthia began as a flight attendant with Hong Kong’s largest international airline, based out of Hong Kong, before relocating to Cairns 21 years ago.
“When I was 18, I saw an advert in the paper advertising for flight crew.
“I applied and went for an interview and they said I was too young. They wanted somebody a bit older and told me to wait until I turned 19. So I waited and then they called me. I started on February 10, 1978.
“It was pretty exciting and scary at the same time, after leaving my comfort zone, my home and going to a foreign place. But Cathay really took very good care of us.
“There was a batch of 30 of us and the company trained us. After a month, we started flying on the Boeing 707. That was my first aircraft.”
Cynthia flew mainly in Asia on the 707 and the L-1011 TriStar, until she was trained to work on the Boeing 747.
“The 747 went to London Gatwick for the first time. That was amazing and eventually we expanded to all of Europe.”
Cynthia began her job with three languages, but developed a fourth during the Gulf War.
“I spoke Bahasa Malaysia and English and I understood Cantonese. Moving to Hong Kong, I learned Cantonese. But during the Gulf War we were asked to take unpaid leave to help the company, so I went and lived in Italy for six months and learnt Italian.”
It was on her last 747 flight into Cairns, while working as Cathay’s in-flight service manager, that life took a different direction when she met her future husband, Foster Lee.
In 1997, she moved to Cairns and joined Cathay’s ground crew.
“I love Cairns. It’s very similar to Malaysia, not so busy and the people are lovely.
“We’re a small team at Cathay. We’re like family.”
Cathay’s Cairns manager Amanda Jessop-Shaw said Cynthia would be missed from her supervisory role with the airline.
“Cynthia’s been absolutely fantastic as an employee.
“She’s what we call our ontime performance girl because she pushes everything to get the flights in and out of Cairns on time.
“She’s also my daughter’s godmother and we’ve both gone through cancer together. We’re a big airline, but it’s like a little family.”