[cwoodward]

Patrick Healy Cathays Chairman said yesterday “We reached 50% of pre-pandemic Group passenger flight capacity levels covering 70 destinations in March, and we have continued to increase our passenger capacity since. Furthermore, as the belly capacity from our passenger operations has grown, we also have been able to offer more choices for our cargo customers. Consequently, we have seen a trend of continued improvement in the performance of our airlines.”
Building back connectivity at the Hong Kong international aviation hub remains our primary focus. We are on track to achieve our target of 70% pre-pandemic passenger flight capacity levels covering 80 destinations by the end of 2023, and we are confident of reaching 100% by the end of 2024.’ (currently the airlines flight capacity has reached about 60%) With flights to both Cape Town and Christchurch confirmed to resume soon.

Cathay also advised to the Stock Exchange that it intended to “enter into an anagreement with Airbus to purchase up to 32 additional Airbus A321-200neo/A320-200neo aircraft on or before 30th September 2023” for delivery starting early 2025.

[christ]

Thanks for the information. Despite being far from my favourite airline, I am pleased to see that Cathay is heading into the right direction.

I am not an expert in the slightest means on Cathay’s fleet (or other airlines) but my outbound trip to Bangkok was changed from an A350 with a flat bed to a horrendous 777 with what i assume is regional seating (it also reminded me of a seat similar to Cathay Dragon). A 2,3,2 cabin and with a seat which was perhaps more like premium economy with a bit more leg room is truely appalling for the premium Cathay charges (especially on the Bangkok route when most other premium airlines offer all flat beds).

As usual, the Cathay lounge at HK was excellent. Also in fairness the food was reasonable with a full printed menu – however no hot towel or pre – departure drinks. Service was quite slow but friendly. Plane was on time and clean despite looking past its due date (much like an old BA 747 in its day).

Luggage delivery was efficient as ever.

If Cathay wants to charge a premium, it should at least have a consistent product – friends have told me that the A321 business is quite a good product despite being a regional product (I will try it on my trip to Vietnam next month).

I returned on Thai and was a nice modern A350. I missed using the Qatar lounge (one of my favourites) but the Thai lounge was quite good. The A350 was very comfortable with its flat beds, although I am not sure of the colour scheme! The service was impeccable with the crew all being so welcoming and pre departure drinks and towels. Whilst the food was not as good as Cathay and no printed menu, the service was very efficient and quick.

IFE may be marginally better on Cathay.

If i had have been on a long haul Cathay plane, i suspect my view would have been that even though Cathay is a little more expensive that it was still reasonably comparable. However whilst Cathay is bringing more of these relics back to short haul flights, i think i will be more careful if there are other carriers on the route (despite not helping my one world status).

Now do not get me wrong, if this was a European flight, the Cathay product would be outstanding when you think on BA Club you can effectively be on an economy seat (middle seat empty) for a 4 hour flight – however the difference is that most European carriers are the same.

I think for Taiwan, I will give Eva Air a go.

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tomyam42

[cwoodward]

I tried them once at the behest of a Taiwanese client with whom I was travelling. Four years ago

I found nothing that was not reasonabely decent and clean but it was all rather ordinary. The cabin crew efficient but but not at all attentive and their English not too good .The food was ordinary as was the seat.
It became clearly understandable to me why more customers on this short route fly with Cathay (China Airlines I have not tried for very many years) and continue onward with them from HK.

[christ]

Unfortunately Cathay again is 30% premium and the later flights returning to HK seem to mostly be 777 with regional seating.

HK airlines on the A330 with flat bed is HKD 3,880 (but too early return flight as just one a day, allbeit some days there are two). China airlines which i know nothing about is $5,800 with many flights and some are flat beds on a A321 which sounds unusual. Eva is same price but on a mix of 787 – 10 and 777 with flat bed, but there is one on a A321 with standard seat. Cathay, every flight is $10,700 but with the best frequency by far and does fly a lot of A350s it seems but also mixed in with the 777 regional relics and the odd A321 neo.

However Eva does seem to use the Plaza lounge at HK which will be extremely disappointing v the the Cathay or Qantas lounges at HK. Cathay has its own lounge at Taiwan and one would hope Eva is better at its home but the Eva one does not look good from photos (I assume HK airlines use this also).

Cathay and followed by China airlines do seem to be the dominant carriers on this route.

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AndrewinHK

[cwoodward]

Of total fleet of 56 X B777 aircraft only 2 of the (6) regional aircraft look to be presently in service although an additional 1 seems to be presently undergoing heave maintenance. Looks like your chances of snagging a long haul aircraft would be very good………

Not all of the Hong Kong airlines 330 fleet features lie flat seating I believe but I dont recall which designation does not -it is perhaps the A330-333.

[TominScotland]

Christ, no disrespect but why do you want a flat bed on a flight of less than 3 hours?

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Mark

[christ]

I do not need a flat bed but for example some of the regional variants do pop up on Seoul and Tokyo (less so) and are around 4 hours. Nonetheless if i am paying a premium for Cathay (and there is value in access to Cathay lounges and so one should not look at the flight alone), I would expect the product to match that of competitors (i.e. Thai, Singapore airlines, Eva etc). Also if it is a red eye flight i do tend to sleep straight away and miss the food.

There is no price difference due to the downgraded products (much the same as if i was flying from London to Madrid, I would try and get the BA long haul planes as did many others when they operated on the route for similar prices).

I wonder if the A330 regional planes are primarily ex Cathay Dragon. Very helpful to know so few regional 777s and with even less in operation.

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AndrewinHK

[tomyam42]

Cathay’s interim report shows clearly that it has 17 regional 777s. According to Planespotters 9 of these are parked. A couple appear to go to Tokyo each day, one or two to Bangkok, and one each to Shanghai and Osaka. They went to Jakarta during that peak season.
The A330s with the same miserable regional seat are all ex Dragonair.
I agree that one does not need a flat bed for a three hour flight and that anything is better than European business class. However I find that the least uncomfortable position for this premium seat is its take off and landing position. Any adjustment from that renders it less comfortable. It would be better if it had zero recline saving weight and space. And one is hemmed in. Three of the seven seats in each row do not have aisle access, all for a premium price. It is just not up to snuff, although there are some who would accept anything provided it had a Cathay label on it.

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christ

[AnthonyDunn]

A positive trend in Cathay’s fortunes after having been made a fall-guy for the obdurate idiocy of the Beijing regime over C-19. However, those revenue and cash generation figures reflect the fact that CX is now charging up to two or three times what it was pre-pandemic. How long can that last? Having recently returned from a couple of months away and routeing through HKG on CX, what I have noticed is that they have somewhat lost the consistency that I previously took for granted with some crews just about getting the basics right (slowly) whilst others go the extra mile. The other thing that I was amazed at was the enormous number of CX tail fins parked up beyond the Midfield gates. There is still the odd parked-up aircraft that has yet to be taken out of mothballing at the same time as they are due to start receiving new deliveries. An interesting challenge for the CX CFO.

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Mark, christ, AndrewinHK

[AndrewinHK]

The results are very impressive, my concern is as capacity comes back, will they be bringing it into a market where demand is weakening. Operational leverage also looks like it will mostly come from the recovery of Air China going forward. The price targets for the stock of $10 look reasonable. I think CX is playing a good PR game lately, with the new seat announcements, and the payback of the government loan shows they have confidence in the outlook.

[Author]

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