Cathay Pacific News and Discussion - 2023

janders · Sat Dec 31, 2022 5:47 pm

Welcome to the Cathay Pacific News and Discussion Thread - 2023.

Please continue to post your comments below.

Link to last years thread
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1468503

LAXintl · Mon Jan 02, 2023 6:39 am

Flight attendant unions may start work-to-rule industrial action during the Lunar New Year.

https://asianaviation.com/cathay-facing ... ttendants/

Rapidpie · Mon Jan 02, 2023 4:14 pm

CX will be increasing flights between Hong Kong and China as borders between the mainland and Hong Kong open up.

It also resumes two-way traffic, destinations referred in this article are Beijing (PEK), Shanghai (PVG), Xiamen, and Guangzhou.

https://hk.news.yahoo.com/%E9%80%9A%E9% ... 44954.html

LAXintl · Mon Jan 02, 2023 5:41 pm

Reductions to Japan due Covid restrictions.

Flights are suspended to FUK and NGO, while frequencies are reduced at CTS, NRT and KIX.

Low-cost subsidiary HK Express canceling 40 flights to Japan also for month of January.

https://www.ch-aviation.com/portal/news ... ovid-rules

Prost · Mon Jan 02, 2023 6:08 pm

Rapidpie wrote:
CX will be increasing flights between Hong Kong and China as borders between the mainland and Hong Kong open up.

It also resumes two-way traffic, destinations referred in this article are Beijing (PEK), Shanghai (PVG), Xiamen, and Guangzhou.

https://hk.news.yahoo.com/%E9%80%9A%E9% ... 44954.html

Does CX fly HKG-CAN? It’s only 73 nm!

smi0006 · Mon Jan 02, 2023 8:48 pm

Question from a new poster in the thread, but a long time CX fan. How are CX going with tech crew, I understand they lost a lot of expat tech crew. I’m sure the same for cabin crew, but probably easier to reopen some offshore bases.

Will CX return to recruiting non-HKG nationals, or change strategies moving forward?

zakuivcustom · Mon Jan 02, 2023 9:04 pm

LAXintl wrote:
Reductions to Japan due Covid restrictions.

Flights are suspended to FUK and NGO, while frequencies are reduced at CTS, NRT and KIX.

Low-cost subsidiary HK Express canceling 40 flights to Japan also for month of January.

https://www.ch-aviation.com/portal/news ... ovid-rules

Keep in mind that this "reduction" is more like a stoppage of planned increase rather than true reduction in frequency. IIRC CX was going to increased from 65/wk to 85/wk especially for the popular Lunar New Year holidays, only to have to stay at 65/wk.

The whole thing is a mess - HK Govt is not happy, HK inbound tourists to Japan are not happy, local tourism boards in Okinawa and Hokkaido were VERY unhappy (prior to the quick U-turn from Japanese govt). I don't see the restriction last beyond March myself - all COVID "big wave" regardless of location last about 2 months anyway - same thing that's happening in mainland China right now.

Meanwhile, it's probably still cheaper for me to fly from USA to Japan (just got back...wish I can spend more time there) than my in-laws flying from HK to Japan

.

BHRN · Tue Jan 03, 2023 12:46 am

Prost wrote:
Does CX fly HKG-CAN? It’s only 73 nm!

For connecting pax...no sane person (other than enthusiasts) would choose to fly over high speed rail or even coaches.

classicjets · Tue Jan 03, 2023 5:31 am

BHRN wrote:
Prost wrote:
Does CX fly HKG-CAN? It’s only 73 nm!

For connecting pax...no sane person (other than enthusiasts) would choose to fly over high speed rail or even coaches.

SCMP did a race testing means of transport (coach, plane, HSR, regular train, taxi) between Hong Kong and central Guangzhou after the high-speed rail opened and flying was second fastest after taking the MTR to Shenzhen and taking a high speed train from there. All arrived within a half-hour of each other. https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/hon ... t-how-high

I have taken the HKG-CAN since flying in allows for getting a 144-hour transit without visa unlike arriving on land.

During the pandemic times, HKG-CAN has operated cargo only, while CAN-HKG was filled with connecting passengers as usual.

CX Flyboy · Tue Jan 03, 2023 10:57 am

smi0006 wrote:
Question from a new poster in the thread, but a long time CX fan. How are CX going with tech crew, I understand they lost a lot of expat tech crew. I’m sure the same for cabin crew, but probably easier to reopen some offshore bases.

Will CX return to recruiting non-HKG nationals, or change strategies moving forward?

Yes we are currently already recruiting foreign nationals again as FOs. We will shortly be hiring foreigners as SOs too.

zeke · Tue Jan 03, 2023 11:27 am

CX Flyboy wrote:
Yes we are currently already recruiting foreign nationals again as FOs. We will shortly be hiring foreigners as SOs too.

Thanks a shame, the 100 SOs that were terminated have not been employed again, and many were checked to line. TB emailed them last week basically saying we encourage you to look elsewhere.

zeke · Tue Jan 03, 2023 11:31 am

BHRN wrote:
For connecting pax...no sane person (other than enthusiasts) would choose to fly over high speed rail or even coaches.

The jets are full under the floor with cargo both ways, I think it will go back to 3xA330s a day again for cargo.

CX Flyboy · Wed Jan 04, 2023 2:52 am

zeke wrote:
CX Flyboy wrote:
Yes we are currently already recruiting foreign nationals again as FOs. We will shortly be hiring foreigners as SOs too.

Thanks a shame, the 100 SOs that were terminated have not been employed again, and many were checked to line. TB emailed them last week basically saying we encourage you to look elsewhere.

I'm not sure why he would say that to them although it wouldnt surprise me if most of them don't want to come back anyway, although having said that some have come back already.

zeke · Wed Jan 04, 2023 5:35 am

CX Flyboy wrote:
I'm not sure why he would say that to them although it wouldnt surprise me if most of them don't want to come back anyway, although having said that some have come back already.

Think there are more SOs than CN at the moment, then there is the new cadets coming, DEFO and DECN.

They were all interviewed by HR recently then they got the email.

Don’t think many were employed from what I hear, they employed far more ex KA.

Rhal97 · Wed Jan 04, 2023 2:38 pm

Any updates on CX medium haul order?

Reports were before covid they preferred the 787-10 to the 330NEO. Wonder how covid has changed that, and also delays with the 777-9 with the pricing of jets from Boeing

Link to reports for citing purposes:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/willhorton ... eamliners/

“Boeing hoped to change that last year as Cathay was favoring the 787-10 over the A330neo when assessing how to replace its intra-Asia regional aircraft.”

This article was back in 2020

CX Flyboy · Fri Jan 06, 2023 2:31 am

zeke wrote:
CX Flyboy wrote:
I'm not sure why he would say that to them although it wouldnt surprise me if most of them don't want to come back anyway, although having said that some have come back already.

Think there are more SOs than CN at the moment, then there is the new cadets coming, DEFO and DECN.

They were all interviewed by HR recently then they got the email.

Don’t think many were employed from what I hear, they employed far more ex KA.

The biggest constraint at the moment is the lack of training capacity both in terms of training captains and sectors available for training. They want to employ as many as they can but already we have plenty of new joiners getting paid for months without a single duty, waiting to be trained. Those ex KA pilots would of course be far more attractive as would DEFOs who need fewer sectors to fly the line. The DECNs are all supposedly ex 'CX Group" so presumably fewer sectors there too. The ones who don't meet that might not get an immediate job offer but they will be in the pool for when we can manage it.

JJWess · Fri Jan 06, 2023 6:35 am

I haven't exactly been keeping posted, but how is CX's recovery going since covid?
Are we expecting them to ever return to pre-pandemic levels?

classicjets · Fri Jan 06, 2023 7:16 am

JJWess wrote:
I haven't exactly been keeping posted, but how is CX's recovery going since covid?
Are we expecting them to ever return to pre-pandemic levels?

The new CEO Ronald Lam is pushing for a full recovery to 2019 levels by 2024. https://www.thestandard.com.hk/breaking ... -two-years

zakuivcustom · Thu Jan 12, 2023 4:10 am

Not really CX but UO (HK Express) which is own by CX.

They're getting a rebrand with a new logo and livery.

https://www.hkexpress.com/en-hk/about-u ... =our-brand

The new livery is...uhh...boring and purely bad? Their old livery is just much, much better. I'm surprise Cathay didn't change the name of the airline to Cathay HKExpress or something like that

.

NotDengXiaoping · Thu Jan 12, 2023 4:12 am

I was looking at costs to transit via HKG this Summer and it looked like costs were high and frequencies were still low, from Mainland China at least. Has CX or any other HKG based airline released news on how they plan on ramping up frequencies to China? I read CX was tripling their overall flights in February but I think in the end it still amounted to less that 10 daily flights.

TEALflyer · Thu Jan 12, 2023 5:30 am

zakuivcustom wrote:
Not really CX but UO (HK Express) which is own by CX.

They're getting a rebrand with a new logo and livery.

https://www.hkexpress.com/en-hk/about-u ... =our-brand

The new livery is...uhh...boring and purely bad? Their old livery is just much, much better. I'm surprise Cathay didn't change the name of the airline to Cathay HKExpress or something like that .

… and they then use a background image of Hong Kong harbour, Backwards.

liclarence · Thu Jan 12, 2023 6:23 am

zakuivcustom wrote:
Not really CX but UO (HK Express) which is own by CX.

They're getting a rebrand with a new logo and livery.

https://www.hkexpress.com/en-hk/about-u ... =our-brand

The new livery is...uhh...boring and purely bad? Their old livery is just much, much better. I'm surprise Cathay didn't change the name of the airline to Cathay HKExpress or something like that .

Not just boring, is UGLY...
Sources from inside said the new branding manager have no previous experience in terms of branding/marketing etc.

zakuivcustom · Thu Jan 12, 2023 4:09 pm

liclarence wrote:
Not just boring, is UGLY...
Sources from inside said the new branding manager have no previous experience in terms of branding/marketing etc.

Is CX really THAT short on staff? :banghead:

JJWess wrote:
I haven't exactly been keeping posted, but how is CX's recovery going since covid?
Are we expecting them to ever return to pre-pandemic levels?

They're gradually restoring frequency, but AFAIK is still maybe at 30%?

Routes like HKG-TPE is still only 3x daily (it was like 10x daily if not more in 2019), HKG to US frequency is still way down (I believe it was 3x daily to LAX, SFO, and JFK...now more like 1x daily to each except JFK is something like 10/wk).

Not sure how bad the staffing situation is. Can they really recover quick when they got rid of so many flight crews? A fair amount of their pilots were expats and will they really come back to CX when they can earn way more elsewhere?

liclarence · Fri Jan 13, 2023 2:49 am

zakuivcustom wrote:
Is CX really THAT short on staff?

Yes, but not just CX, I believe the whole world Aviation Industry is short on Personnel due to COVID for the past 3 years.

zakuivcustom wrote:
They're gradually restoring frequency, but AFAIK is still maybe at 30%?

Routes like HKG-TPE is still only 3x daily (it was like 10x daily if not more in 2019), HKG to US frequency is still way down (I believe it was 3x daily to LAX, SFO, and JFK...now more like 1x daily to each except JFK is something like 10/wk).

Not sure how bad the staffing situation is. Can they really recover quick when they got rid of so many flight crews? A fair amount of their pilots were expats and will they really come back to CX when they can earn way more elsewhere?

I don't believe we will see a sharp increase in terms of flight frequency anytime soon;

HKG - TPE 3x Daily: Due to entry restriction for resident of Hong Kong to enter Taiwan as a Tourist, until that restriction lifted, I doubt the frequency will increase. Rumor has it current load factor between HKG - TPE roughly 30 to 40% full on each flight alone.

HKG to US Frequency: CX rely heavily on transit passengers from China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Vietnam or even Australia, however due to not enough crew (e.g. Pilots + FAs), restoring those flight like pre-COVID will take time. Currently only LHR is back to 80% pre-COVID with almost 4 daily flights per day (5 daily pre-COVID).

LAXintl · Fri Jan 13, 2023 7:02 am

New branding and a new motto "Gotta go" reveal for HK Express

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FmMJIZmaEAA ... name=large

max999 · Fri Jan 13, 2023 12:57 pm

liclarence wrote:
zakuivcustom wrote:
Not really CX but UO (HK Express) which is own by CX.

They're getting a rebrand with a new logo and livery.

https://www.hkexpress.com/en-hk/about-u ... =our-brand

The new livery is...uhh...boring and purely bad? Their old livery is just much, much better. I'm surprise Cathay didn't change the name of the airline to Cathay HKExpress or something like that .

Not just boring, is UGLY...
Sources from inside said the new branding manager have no previous experience in terms of branding/marketing etc.

Cathay's reputation as an employer in HK has taken a nosedive since the airline's hostile reaction towards its employees after being vilified by the mainland Chinese during the extradition law protests. And Cathay's actions against its employees in order to comply with zero-Covid worsened the reputation even more.

I believe that high quality job candidates for all types of positions are avoiding Cathay. It's a different time now because Cathay no longer has a sterling reputation amongst Hong Kongers.

zakuivcustom · Fri Jan 13, 2023 1:50 pm

max999 wrote:
liclarence wrote:
zakuivcustom wrote:
Not really CX but UO (HK Express) which is own by CX.

They're getting a rebrand with a new logo and livery.

https://www.hkexpress.com/en-hk/about-u ... =our-brand

The new livery is...uhh...boring and purely bad? Their old livery is just much, much better. I'm surprise Cathay didn't change the name of the airline to Cathay HKExpress or something like that .

Not just boring, is UGLY...
Sources from inside said the new branding manager have no previous experience in terms of branding/marketing etc.

Cathay's reputation as an employer in HK has taken a nosedive since the airline's hostile reaction towards its employees after being vilified by the mainland Chinese during the extradition law protests. And Cathay's actions against its employees in order to comply with zero-Covid worsened the reputation even more.

I believe that high quality job candidates for all types of positions are avoiding Cathay. It's a different time now because Cathay no longer has a sterling reputation amongst Hong Kongers.

I would say the quarantine actions is really what break the morale - doesn't help that two male FAs were jailed for 2 months for breaching quarantine and were scapegoated for causing that outbreak early in 2022, even though the latter was literally inevitable (and was caused by somebody quarantining...)

Adding onto shortage, of course, is the fact that HK is among the last place to "return to normal". What pilots when they all work for other airlines that were way short on staff 6 months ago? What FAs when the pay is not even great and morale is awful?

liclarence wrote:
HKG to US Frequency: CX rely heavily on transit passengers from China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Vietnam or even Australia, however due to not enough crew (e.g. Pilots + FAs), restoring those flight like pre-COVID will take time. Currently only LHR is back to 80% pre-COVID with almost 4 daily flights per day (5 daily pre-COVID).

And well, with the number of HKer immigrating to UK (even if it's just for study), LHR demand will definitely be there...

yeogeo · Fri Jan 13, 2023 2:02 pm

LAXintl wrote:
New branding and a new motto "Gotta go"

Not to worry - there's a loo on-board.

max999 · Fri Jan 13, 2023 2:09 pm

zakuivcustom wrote:
max999 wrote:
liclarence wrote:

Not just boring, is UGLY...
Sources from inside said the new branding manager have no previous experience in terms of branding/marketing etc.

Cathay's reputation as an employer in HK has taken a nosedive since the airline's hostile reaction towards its employees after being vilified by the mainland Chinese during the extradition law protests. And Cathay's actions against its employees in order to comply with zero-Covid worsened the reputation even more.

I believe that high quality job candidates for all types of positions are avoiding Cathay. It's a different time now because Cathay no longer has a sterling reputation amongst Hong Kongers.

I would say the quarantine actions is really what break the morale - doesn't help that two male FAs were jailed for 2 months for breaching quarantine and were scapegoated for causing that outbreak early in 2022, even though the latter was literally inevitable (and was caused by somebody quarantining...)

Adding onto shortage, of course, is the fact that HK is among the last place to "return to normal". What pilots when they all work for other airlines that were way short on staff 6 months ago? What FAs when the pay is not even great and morale is awful?

Unfortunately, CX is on a long and slow decline into mediocrity. Cathay will not compete at the same level as top global airlines as it used to.

YYZflyboy · Fri Jan 13, 2023 4:14 pm

Cathay doesn't know how to pivot, to at least get its customers to their destinations. Why not fly to Doha (like how Finnair did when they cut lots of destinations) multiple times daily and codeshare with Qatar Airways/other partners? Are Hong Kongers/Chinese that averse to connecting flights?

And is Cathay forced to hire only Permanent HK residents for pilots? So many of my contacts looking to become junior pilots that hold EU and North American passports want to fly for Cathay, but can't, because of the HK Permanent resident requirement! And they studied at flying schools on par or superior to the one CX uses!

zakuivcustom wrote:
max999 wrote:
liclarence wrote:

Not just boring, is UGLY...
Sources from inside said the new branding manager have no previous experience in terms of branding/marketing etc.

Cathay's reputation as an employer in HK has taken a nosedive since the airline's hostile reaction towards its employees after being vilified by the mainland Chinese during the extradition law protests. And Cathay's actions against its employees in order to comply with zero-Covid worsened the reputation even more.

I believe that high quality job candidates for all types of positions are avoiding Cathay. It's a different time now because Cathay no longer has a sterling reputation amongst Hong Kongers.

I would say the quarantine actions is really what break the morale - doesn't help that two male FAs were jailed for 2 months for breaching quarantine and were scapegoated for causing that outbreak early in 2022, even though the latter was literally inevitable (and was caused by somebody quarantining...)

Adding onto shortage, of course, is the fact that HK is among the last place to "return to normal". What pilots when they all work for other airlines that were way short on staff 6 months ago? What FAs when the pay is not even great and morale is awful?

liclarence wrote:
HKG to US Frequency: CX rely heavily on transit passengers from China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Vietnam or even Australia, however due to not enough crew (e.g. Pilots + FAs), restoring those flight like pre-COVID will take time. Currently only LHR is back to 80% pre-COVID with almost 4 daily flights per day (5 daily pre-COVID).

And well, with the number of HKer immigrating to UK (even if it's just for study), LHR demand will definitely be there...

zakuivcustom · Fri Jan 13, 2023 5:37 pm

YYZflyboy wrote:
Cathay doesn't know how to pivot, to at least get its customers to their destinations. Why not fly to Doha (like how Finnair did when they cut lots of destinations) multiple times daily and codeshare with Qatar Airways/other partners? Are Hong Kongers/Chinese that averse to connecting flights?

Not sure what you mean...

HKer are certainly NOT averse to connecting flight at least for long-haul if the price is right - i.e. TK/QR/EK to Europe. That leaves CX with connection at HKG itself (i.e. SE Asia to USA, Australia to Europe) along with lucrative O&D destinations (i.e. LHR).

I guess you're suggesting CX metal on HKG-DOH to connect to QR metal? They did do that from 2014-2016 but turns out QR can just do that themselves on their own metal, and CX just put their code on the QR flight.

max999 wrote:
Unfortunately, CX is on a long and slow decline into mediocrity. Cathay will not compete at the same level as top global airlines as it used to.

Its network will definitely be trimmed...

CX is a microcosm of Hong Kong as a whole anyway.

YYZflyboy · Sat Jan 14, 2023 5:15 am

But the Qatar flights are frequently full, and Qatar Airways has a plane shortage right now. Might as well put more capacity from Hong Kong from CX and ferry them to Doha!

zakuivcustom wrote:
YYZflyboy wrote:
Cathay doesn't know how to pivot, to at least get its customers to their destinations. Why not fly to Doha (like how Finnair did when they cut lots of destinations) multiple times daily and codeshare with Qatar Airways/other partners? Are Hong Kongers/Chinese that averse to connecting flights?

Not sure what you mean...

HKer are certainly NOT averse to connecting flight at least for long-haul if the price is right - i.e. TK/QR/EK to Europe. That leaves CX with connection at HKG itself (i.e. SE Asia to USA, Australia to Europe) along with lucrative O&D destinations (i.e. LHR).

I guess you're suggesting CX metal on HKG-DOH to connect to QR metal? They did do that from 2014-2016 but turns out QR can just do that themselves on their own metal, and CX just put their code on the QR flight.

max999 wrote:
Unfortunately, CX is on a long and slow decline into mediocrity. Cathay will not compete at the same level as top global airlines as it used to.

Its network will definitely be trimmed...

CX is a microcosm of Hong Kong as a whole anyway.

zakuivcustom · Sat Jan 14, 2023 4:13 pm

[quote="YYZflyboy"]But the Qatar flights are frequently full, and Qatar Airways has a plane shortage right now. Might as well put more capacity from Hong Kong from CX and ferry them to Doha!

CX is nowhere near 100% (or even 50%) themselves...they have MUCH higher priority right now than flying a route just to connect pax to another airline.

Things like restoring mainland China capacity, restoring Japan route capacity especially for the upcoming LNY holidays where half of Hong Kong will travel to Japan (I'm exaggerating but not far from the truth

), etc.

liclarence · Tue Jan 17, 2023 6:59 am

max999 wrote:

Cathay's reputation as an employer in HK has taken a nosedive since the airline's hostile reaction towards its employees after being vilified by the mainland Chinese during the extradition law protests. And Cathay's actions against its employees in order to comply with zero-Covid worsened the reputation even more.

I believe that high quality job candidates for all types of positions are avoiding Cathay. It's a different time now because Cathay no longer has a sterling reputation amongst Hong Kongers.

I have to say Cathay's reputation as an employer in HK took a nosedive EVEN before COVID-19.

zakuivcustom · Tue Jan 17, 2023 2:30 pm

No strike from cabin crew, but they'll "work to rule". (I try to find a "free" article but couldn't find a good one...)

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/tra ... d-manpower

Morale itself had been low among cabin crews. Of course, reading the comment you've people in HK who really think they can still find "cheaper replacement" when in reality, the low morale along with staffing shortage had been very detrimental to CX trying to increase capacity again.

Oh...not to mention the decline in level of service in general. But then, CX service while still good for most part had definitely no longer "world class". I guess with the integration with mainland China, "Just good enough" (Chabuduo) is the new mantra?

liclarence · Wed Jan 18, 2023 6:51 am

zakuivcustom wrote:
No strike from cabin crew, but they'll "work to rule". (I try to find a "free" article but couldn't find a good one...)

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/tra ... d-manpower

Morale itself had been low among cabin crews. Of course, reading the comment you've people in HK who really think they can still find "cheaper replacement" when in reality, the low morale along with staffing shortage had been very detrimental to CX trying to increase capacity again.

Oh...not to mention the decline in level of service in general. But then, CX service while still good for most part had definitely no longer "world class". I guess with the integration with mainland China, "Just good enough" (Chabuduo) is the new mantra?

CX overall service begin to drop ever since Philip Chen took the HELM as CEO in 2005, and Moral no matter from Pilot or FA or Ground Staffs or Internal Office Staff begin to decline as well. Moral and service did climb back when Tony Tyler & John Slosar were CEO, however both service and moral drop again when Augustus Tang took the helm back in 2019.

CX Flyboy · Wed Jan 18, 2023 1:20 pm

YYZflyboy wrote:
And is Cathay forced to hire only Permanent HK residents for pilots? So many of my contacts looking to become junior pilots that hold EU and North American passports want to fly for Cathay, but can't, because of the HK Permanent resident requirement! And they studied at flying schools on par or superior to the one CX uses!

Cathay is now employing direct entry FOs and Visas are being issued by the government to them. Direct entry SOs will start soon too.

Rapidpie · Mon Jan 30, 2023 3:29 pm

CX and UO will both be cutting flights between Hong Kong and Japan again, due to Japan government restrictions.

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/tra ... iving-city

Also, CX will be resuming flights to Wenzhou.

https://new.qq.com/rain/a/20230130A06ZQ300

Could not find an English or traditional Chinese source. Flights will be 3 weekly, using A321neo.

zakuivcustom · Tue Jan 31, 2023 6:56 pm

Rapidpie wrote:
CX and UO will both be cutting flights between Hong Kong and Japan again, due to Japan government restrictions.

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/tra ... iving-city

Also, CX will be resuming flights to Wenzhou.

https://new.qq.com/rain/a/20230130A06ZQ300

Could not find an English or traditional Chinese source. Flights will be 3 weekly, using A321neo.

Frequency-wise it's not so much "cutting flights" but rather they can't fly any of the planned increase in frequency. LOTS of HK people traveling to Japan anyway.

And not surprisingly, CX had been operating their 438-seats 773A (non-ER) to places like KIX and CTS and probably their 368 77Ws otherwise.

At the end all the restriction does is keep HK-Japan fare insanely high. But Japanese govt is clearly playing politics and HKgov is...well, none of the "western" government really likes them anyway.

Qantas74 · Thu Feb 02, 2023 6:59 pm

Does anyone know what happened to all of those fifth freedom flights that Cathay Pacific flew within Asia? I remember they had a focus city operation at TPE where they flew to NRT, KIX, ICN, and I think a couple other Japanese cities. They also flew BKK-SIN. It appears that those routes are all gone. On Wikipedia, it now shows that the only destination Cathay flies to from TPE, BKK, and SIN is HKG. I couldn’t find a press release or article about it though. Were all of those routes permanently cut? Does this mark the end of the TPE focus city? Is there more information about it somewhere? Also, as a result of this, does Cathay no longer have any fifth freedom flights left?

usflyer msp · Thu Feb 02, 2023 7:19 pm

Qantas74 wrote:
Does anyone know what happened to all of those fifth freedom flights that Cathay Pacific flew within Asia? I remember they had a focus city operation at TPE where they flew to NRT, KIX, ICN, and I think a couple other Japanese cities. They also flew BKK-SIN. It appears that those routes are all gone. On Wikipedia, it now shows that the only destination Cathay flies to from TPE, BKK, and SIN is HKG. I couldn’t find a press release or article about it though. Were all of those routes permanently cut? Does this mark the end of the TPE focus city? Is there more information about it somewhere? Also, as a result of this, does Cathay no longer have any fifth freedom flights left?

I would think fifth freedom routes are pretty low on CX's list of priorities, given their limited resources right now.

zakuivcustom · Thu Feb 02, 2023 7:40 pm

usflyer msp wrote:
Qantas74 wrote:
Does anyone know what happened to all of those fifth freedom flights that Cathay Pacific flew within Asia? I remember they had a focus city operation at TPE where they flew to NRT, KIX, ICN, and I think a couple other Japanese cities. They also flew BKK-SIN. It appears that those routes are all gone. On Wikipedia, it now shows that the only destination Cathay flies to from TPE, BKK, and SIN is HKG. I couldn’t find a press release or article about it though. Were all of those routes permanently cut? Does this mark the end of the TPE focus city? Is there more information about it somewhere? Also, as a result of this, does Cathay no longer have any fifth freedom flights left?

I would think fifth freedom routes are pretty low on CX's list of priorities, given their limited resources right now.

This...CX is nowhere close to their capacity pre-pandemic and it'll take at least another year for things to even get back to 80%.

TPE is also in flux as Taiwanese govt haven't even reopen normal tourism back to HK residents, handicapping number of HKG-TPE flights to begin with. Then there's Japan - even if Japanese govt drop the flight quotas tomorrow all you'll see is CX increasing their non-stop frequencies.

JerseyFlyer · Fri Feb 03, 2023 12:42 pm

"Hong Kong's government has announced plans to give away 500,000 free airline tickets as part of efforts to revive its tourism industry and attract visitors back to the city."

Worth $250M to Cathay, HK Express and HK Airlines

https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/ ... index.html

CX Flyboy · Sat Feb 04, 2023 4:34 am

Qantas74 wrote:
Does anyone know what happened to all of those fifth freedom flights that Cathay Pacific flew within Asia? I remember they had a focus city operation at TPE where they flew to NRT, KIX, ICN, and I think a couple other Japanese cities. They also flew BKK-SIN. It appears that those routes are all gone. On Wikipedia, it now shows that the only destination Cathay flies to from TPE, BKK, and SIN is HKG. I couldn’t find a press release or article about it though. Were all of those routes permanently cut? Does this mark the end of the TPE focus city? Is there more information about it somewhere? Also, as a result of this, does Cathay no longer have any fifth freedom flights left?

I have no way of verifying this and might just be a rumour but I heard the ones from TPE have been lost because we did not use them for a period of time.

J343 · Mon Feb 06, 2023 5:57 pm

Quick question and I don't know if this was already asked.

Can CX's new A321neo make HKG-PER hops? Where do CX deploy them?

blrBird · Mon Feb 06, 2023 10:33 pm

J343 wrote:
Quick question and I don't know if this was already asked.

Can CX's new A321neo make HKG-PER hops? Where do CX deploy them?

CX 321N have 202 seats, with that dense config not sure if it can make HKG-PER.

CX Flyboy · Tue Feb 07, 2023 12:50 am

J343 wrote:
Where do CX deploy them?

They have been doing some China flights but also MNL, BKK, DPS, TPE etc.. around the region. DPS is the longest flight they have at the moment but these arent LRs or XLRs.

AngMoh · Tue Feb 07, 2023 11:03 am

blrBird wrote:
J343 wrote:
Quick question and I don't know if this was already asked.

Can CX's new A321neo make HKG-PER hops? Where do CX deploy them?

CX 321N have 202 seats, with that dense config not sure if it can make HKG-PER.

HKG-PER is probably an 8 hour flight on an A321neo. It is 7:15 when flown with the current aircraft which is an A350-1000 and it is significantly faster. The fact it is today an A35K makes a downgrade to an A321 unlikely. The route should also have lots of cargo (stuff from China and the rest of the world on HKG-PER and food & wine on the return flight).

J343 · Tue Feb 07, 2023 2:43 pm

AngMoh wrote:
blrBird wrote:
J343 wrote:
Quick question and I don't know if this was already asked.

Can CX's new A321neo make HKG-PER hops? Where do CX deploy them?

CX 321N have 202 seats, with that dense config not sure if it can make HKG-PER.

HKG-PER is probably an 8 hour flight on an A321neo. It is 7:15 when flown with the current aircraft which is an A350-1000 and it is significantly faster. The fact it is today an A35K makes a downgrade to an A321 unlikely. The route should also have lots of cargo (stuff from China and the rest of the world on HKG-PER and food & wine on the return flight).

Ah wow! Didn't realise their send their A35Ks to PER. Does this make PER a busier route than BNE for CX?

zakuivcustom · Tue Feb 07, 2023 4:42 pm

J343 wrote:
AngMoh wrote:
blrBird wrote:

CX 321N have 202 seats, with that dense config not sure if it can make HKG-PER.

HKG-PER is probably an 8 hour flight on an A321neo. It is 7:15 when flown with the current aircraft which is an A350-1000 and it is significantly faster. The fact it is today an A35K makes a downgrade to an A321 unlikely. The route should also have lots of cargo (stuff from China and the rest of the world on HKG-PER and food & wine on the return flight).

Ah wow! Didn't realise their send their A35Ks to PER. Does this make PER a busier route than BNE for CX?

Right now IIRC BNE is 3/wk vs. PER at 4/wk. Both are usually on A35K with occasional A359 sub.

As for A321neo routes - instead of PER I wonder if CX can restart HKG-CNS with their 321N. BTW 202 seats is not THAT dense for a A321...(It's "normal" number of seats).

JerseyFlyer wrote:
"Hong Kong's government has announced plans to give away 500,000 free airline tickets as part of efforts to revive its tourism industry and attract visitors back to the city."

Worth $250M to Cathay, HK Express and HK Airlines

https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/ ... index.html

Yeah...yeah...the number of visitors to HK had been inflated by those day traveler from nearby region for years anyway. 56M visitors pre-pandemic when something like 80% of them are from mainland...

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