[cwoodward]

The airline has in the last twelve months moved 92 aircraft for long-term storage in Alice Springs in Australia and Ciudad Real in Spain and back into service other than some thirty older 777s and A300s that have been retired or returned to leasers.
This represents over 50% of the aircraft that were in long term storage with more returning to service every month as needed.

Coupled with 9 new aircraft delivered over the past 2 years, the aircraft yet to be released from storage and the 44 aircraft on order it looks as though the airline group will have a robust fleet well exceeding 250 aircraft going forward.

With a forecast approaching 2 million passengers and a loading approaching 90% for March it seems that it will not be long before all of the available aircraft will be needed once more as more routes are restarted.

Additionally Air Hongkong needs to source around 10 X A330 freighters to replace the older and smaller A300 fleet that are being retired over the next couple of years.

Overall a robust outlook for Hong Kong and the Cathay Pacific group with I understand more significant announcements yet to be made.

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[AMcWhirter]

This morning Bloomberg reporting that CX “is in talks to add as many as 50 Airbus planes.”

[cwoodward]

The new large Boeings are not going to arrive until 2025 at best (that is unless Cathay finally manages to change the order to freighters or cancel it altogether). Many of the large fleet of A330s are even now ageing and will need to be replaced also very possibly with a mix of models .
The large A350 fuel efficient fleet has been a major success and are popular with the punters and I assume more will be part of this order.

[AndrewinHK]

As far as I can see, the Bloomberg report is saying the order will be from lessors for a320 Neo’s destined for HK Express. Supports the theory that CX group needs to build out capacity to ensure utilization and market share protection when a 3 runway HKIA is fully operational, one hoped they would have done so more within the Cathay brand, but seems more akin to SQ’s Scoot model, HK Express takes over more and more regional routes, and mainline focuses on higher yielding city pairs.

[cwoodward]

Alex, I don’t see Cathay following the Scoot model in that I believe Cathay will not seed established destinations to HK Express.

There is huge, growing and untapped potential within the regen to grow HK Express quickly by establishing new and smaller destinations.
Scoot and HK Express are far from being parallel models and a significant difference is the geographic position of Singapore within the regen. To put this simply it is too far away from China to be the natural hub that is Hong Kong. Also too close to Malesia and Indonesia with its well established low cost carriers thus much its growth needs to come from established SIA destinations.

As a destination HK benefits from its British heritage, being closer to China and Europe yet further from most other Asian countries thus there is a natural flow. A further advantage of HK is that is a real and rounded destination with heritage and history.
It is interesting and characterful and of course much larger with numerous beaches and large country parks whereas as a destination Singapore lacks heritage and history is too small and it would be fair I believe to say on some levels ‘fake. They try very hard to make the place a ‘real’ destination but the truth is that it is not.

Now I should say that I rather like Singapore but only for the hotel experience and the street food and that is just not enough for more than a night or two – and that is only because I live and work in the area. Most certainly it would not be a place that I would bother with as any sort of destination if I still lived in Europe, SA or Australia. OK as a transit point but little else

Hong Kong has the geographical advantage thus its low cost model will be able to grow quickly without needing to ‘milk’ its parents established destinations.

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AMcWhirter

[tomyam42]

I just cross my fingers that the old A330s with 24 bizzo seats and the even older 777-300s get replaced by A350s ASAP. And give us a decent seat. Increase ticket prices if necessary. Whoever thought lifestyle should be matched with lowest cost. If you want lowest cost, stay down the back or move to an LCC.

[AndrewinHK]

cwoodward I disagree, I think Scoot and HK Express are very similar models, they are low cost, low frills operators, that are used to supplement and or replace (I give you they will mostly be used to supplement) existing routes, and open new ones to second tier cities/leisure destinations.

I imagine previous KA routes, its more likely that HK Express will be the primary operator. Routes like Phuket/Kota Kinabalu seem more like HK Express routes, Chiang Mai is an example (previous KA/CX route) where CX isn’t operating but HK Express is.

I am a big fan of HK, I live here, but I’m not sure what the tourism ad for its features VS Singapore has to do with HK express, the fact is HK’s population is declining, Singapore’s is expanding. Singapore has a large low cost airline base, Air Asia/Jetstar/Scoot, all fostered by an open aviation policy, HK lags due to the monopolistic tendencies of CX and the HK regulator in protecting it. CX finally has sussed that to expand the group, you need to do it with volume, and low cost gives you that, I fear at the expense of expanding mainline, which I think remains at similar levels to pre pandemic.

[cwoodward]

I continue to disagree Andrew. Other than being so called low cost operators they are very dissimilar models. The purpose of HKX is to run smaller aircraft on new and ex dragon secondary routes. As an instance Cathay has only just started to fly to Phuket (for the last many years a Dragon route) why because there is good existing and potential for also a premium 3 class operator i.e. Cathay
I cannot see that the Cathay group is ‘lagging’ in any way as it is obvious to all that HKX is expanding at a particularly fast rate.
As for Singapore now that is a SIA monopolistic government owned regime and I recall the vociferous and prolonged complaints if any other airline even breathed on Singapore domicile. As for the regulator protecting Cathay that is in my view totally and obviously untrue given the number of independent airlines domiciled in Hong Kong.
It is obvious from your posts that your liking for HK does not stretch as far as the Cathay group and that is of course fine but perhaps it would be possible and more useful for you to make your criticisms fit the facts.

[AndrewinHK]

cwoodward, it is always great to have differing viewpoints and sensible discussion. I would argue your posts show your almost blind support of CX, you have a response for every critique, which is fine, I am mainly stating that HKEX expanding likely doesn’t bode well for mainline CX.

[cwoodward]

Why would that Be Andrew ?

[christ]

With reference to a330 v a350, isn’t business the same with a flat bed. Having flown to Seoul and Bangkok in the last month, the seat was identical except the a350 had a brighter feel. Or are there some old ones with no flat beds (I thought that was limited to a handful of 777s).

For a change on cathay short flights, there was excellent service on cathay. The food was delivered quickly with the trolley going up and down rather than trying to do from the galley randomly. I do notice one side always gets served far quicker than the other and it is not consistent.

I get confused with the lounges but the cathay one near gate 6 was open yesterday and was an excellent space and with good food and drinks. I would say considerably better than the one by gate 65 which I was at a few weeks ago and was like a zoo (but convenient for flight which left at gate 65).

[cwoodward]

Christ, To my understanding the seats are of identical basic design but there are small differences depending on the vintage of the seat and the aircraft in which it is fitted. I am less than 100% certain of this but believe that the above is correct.

The lounge that you were in was the recently refurbished “The Deck’ In a previous incarnation the space the Dragon Air lounge.

The Lounge at Gate 65 is the ‘The Pier’ it is a double lounge and when fully operational again is Cathays premier HK lounge.
I understand that It will be again fully open around the end of April although closed areas will progressively open from early next month. ‘The Wing’ is a another double floor lounge with First and Business class areas and this is the one immediately to the left through immigration when entering the immigration area from close to the Cathay check-in desks. There is another immigration are at the other end of the concourse and entry via that leaves a3 or 4 minute walk to the ‘Wing’ lounges.

[AndrewinHK]

Cwoodward, capital allocation seems to be focused on expanding HKEX, I think therefore mainline CX likely has the fleet maintained at current levels, rather than much in the way of expansion.

[MartynSinclair]

I am delighted to have been one of CX passengers this week, after my single night stay in HKG. The airport looked busy, I liked what appeared to be upgrades in the boarding process, where everything is paperless. You only need to scan your boarding card and passport when you go airside along and its face recognition at the boarding gate. Security line was long, but very speedy. Clearly upgraded machines and only lap tops out, not liquids. Phones were kept in my bag. Clearly HKIA upgraded equipment at some point – but it shows how long security lines can clear very quickly. I guess the UK airports will catch up eventually.

The flight itself, was as previous, except on this occasion my ordered meal was loaded.

One irritating thing, I tried to change my HKG-BKK flight to an earlier flight – but the Customer services rep took one look at my Finnair produced boarding card and said, too difficult keep to the your flight and waved me away, with out even checking what kind of ticket I had.

However, I am pleased I was waved away. Once airside I found my flight went from gate 7, so reluctantly I turned left and avoided the long walk to my favourite lounge at gate 65. I was pleased because as reported above, the F lounge is still closed. HOWEVER, the welcome I got from the Wing made my day. I was recognized and there were hugs and kisses from a few members of staff. Interestingly, they said they had not been furloughed and had remained with CX throughout the pandemic. Spent an wonderful few hours, eating, drinking and talking to other travellers.

HKG is certainly open. But understandably, some services outside the airport have sadly forgotten how to treat overseas guests but overall, it felt wonderful to be back for the first time in 3 yeas. Also a big thank you to the BT Forum traveller who kept me company from LHR-HKG via HEL.

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IanFromHKG, stevescoots, cwoodward, Woodpecker, Jacob

[tomyam42]

Christ, I believe that there is a bunch of A330s with the uncomfortable non-lie flat seat. All the ex-DragonAir ones were like that apart from those used as first class and the ones originally used for India. When booking my flights I try to avoid them, selecting seats in rows 16 back so that I am alerted when there is an aircraft change to the worst 24 seat version. I can then try to change my flights. But it is getting very difficult to avoid them. I have a trip coming up with 4 sectors, on 3 of which I have had my seat moved to 15 or further forward. In my opinion the directors and management have no understanding of what lifestyle means. A good lifestyle does not entail snipping, shaving and trimming offerings to save costs. There is premium economy. They should consider expanding that and, if necessary, reducing the number of business seats for which an upgraded service is offered, with any necessary adjustments in prices. This region is getting richer and richer. There is a surprising number of people who are willing to pay for quality. A visit to any of the top malls in the region will clearly show that. Maybe Cathay directors and management need to leave Taikoo Shing and Chek Lap Kok.

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christ

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