A CATHAY Pacific pilot and a flight attendant in Hong Kong have been sacked, after photos of them having oral sex in a cockpit appeared online.

The airline's chief executive John Slosar says they're no longer employees of the company.



He stressed that the incident did not happen while a plane was airborne and said a report would be forwarded to Hong Kong's Civil Aviation Department.



''I find any behaviour 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.''



According to Chinese newspaper reports, the pilot and the flight attendant are a couple, and the pilot says the pictures were downloaded from his personal computer without his knowledge.



Several pixellated photos of the act have been published in local Chinese-language media, showing the woman in a red outfit resembling Cathay's cabin crew uniform giving oral sex to a man who the reports said was a pilot.



Reports in Hong Kong media said the pictures had been widely circulated on an online forum for pilots.



According to the Chinese-language Apple Daily, the pilot - a foreigner - has issued a legal letter to the newspaper saying the photos had been stolen from his personal computer and that he had lodged a police report.



Cathay Pacific, Hong Kong's top airline, has 13,000 staff around the world, including more than 8000 cabin crew and 4000 working in airports, according to its website.



Originally published as Pilot, stewardess sacked over cockpit sex