Cathay Pacific has welcomed the commissioning of the Three-Runway System at Hong Kong International Airport. It says this will mark a new phase of growth and development for the Hong Kong international aviation hub. The airline says it fully supports the continued development of its home hub, with the Group’s airlines reaching 100% of pre-pandemic flights from January 2025. Cathay Pacific and HK Express intend to continue adding more flights and destinations. The two Cathay Group airlines project to reach 100 destinations around the world in 2025, a key milestone for the Cathay Group. Cathay says it is firmly committed to the city’s long-term growth and development and is committing more than HK$100 billion in investments over the next seven years. This investment includes orders for more than 100 new-generation aircraft and upgrades of cabin interiors and lounges. Cathay Group CEO Ronald Lam said: “The introduction of the Three-Runway System will be a landmark moment for Hong Kong, one that ushers in a new era of possibilities for our home hub.” “We can now truly put the pandemic behind us and firmly focus on the future.”

Amadeus has expanded its partnership with Hong Kong based Cathay Pacific. The enhanced collaboration is expected to boost the airline’s retail capabilities and offer customers increased flexibility and choice. Cathay Pacific will continue to use Amadeus’ technologies to include Revenue Accounting and Passenger Recovery . The expanded partnership also sees the continued collaboration making Cathay Pacific’s NDC-sourced content available to travel sellers across the globe in phases. This follows the adoption of Altéa NDC . Amadeus Altéa NDC provides end-to-end NDC shopping, booking and servicing flows. It enables airlines to efficiently distribute offers to third parties, between direct and indirect channels. “At Amadeus, we’re invested in going that extra mile to deliver the transformation that Cathay needs,” said Javier Laforgue, EVP, Travel unit & Managing Director, Asia Pacific, Amadeus. Cathay will continue to use the Altéa Passenger Service System (PSS) —Amadeus’ airline IT system—to manage reservations, inventory, ticketing, departure control and disruption management. “We are pleased to strengthen our collaboration with Amadeus whose technology will help us become one of the best service brands in the world,” added Kinto Chan, General Manager, Sales and Distribution, Cathay Pacific. 

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Cathay Pacific has achieved a number of new milestones in its sustainability journey. The airline launched its Corporate Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) Programme in 2022 and says it has achieved substantial growth this year. It is becoming one of the biggest initiatives of its kind globally. The SAF programme has introduced a tiered structure, allowing customers to participate based on their SAF demand and business needs. Cathay Pacific just welcomed DB Schenker, the biggest contributor to the programme to date, and Kuehne+Nagel as Diamond partners. Also, EQT joined as a Gold partner, and Julius Baer and Lenton Group are Silver partners, bringing the total to 15 partners this year. Cathay also recognises the continued commitment of its longstanding partners, including Airport Authority Hong Kong, Standard Chartered Bank, Swire Pacific, Yusen Logistics, and the Business Environment Council. The programme partners have committed to using 2,650 tonnes of SAF this year. This is equivalent to a reduction of approximately 8,060 tonnes of carbon emissions, three times the reduction achieved last year. Cathay Group CEO Ronald Lam said: "Our Corporate SAF Programme has now entered into its third year and keeps expanding.” The programme is a key pillar in Cathay's overall approach to leading the aviation industry's decarbonization” Compared to conventional jet fuel, sustainable aviation fuel can reduce over 80% of carbon emissions on a lifecycle basis. Cathay Pacific was the first airline in Asia to announce a target of 10% SAF for its total fuel use by 2030. Since then, the airline has successfully conducted SAF uplifts at both Hong Kong International Airport and other airports overseas. 

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Cathay Pacific has revealed décor for its newly retrofitted Boeing 777-300ER aircraft, launching in Hong Kong this month. The redesign aims to elevate the flying experience across all cabin classes, with a host of new features.  The highlight of the interior overhaul is the Aria Suite. It features Cathay’s first-ever suite doors for added privacy and a 24-inch 4K ultra-high-definition screen which is the largest in Cathay's fleet. Aria Suite passengers also get wireless charging and Bluetooth connectivity. Cathay’s Premium Economy service has also been revamped. It has added customised leather headrests and padded footrests, more privacy with seat wings and dividers, and a 15.6-inch 4K screen with Bluetooth audio streaming. Cathay’s Premium Economy also has dedicated bathrooms with touchless technology Economy cabin passengers will also see upgraded features including improved ergonomics with flexible headrests and enhanced inflight entertainment   

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Cathay Pacific has banned a couple from flying with it again after their row erupted over a reclining seat. A mainland Chinese woman posted her story on social media, claiming she was harassed by the couple sat behind her for reclining her seat. The post has gone viral and showed footage of the altercation. The post has gained about 200,000 on a Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu. The airline responded by banning the couple for their behaviour. Cathay says it has a ‘strict zero-tolerance policy’ towards threatening behaviour and harassment. The incident happened on a London bound flight from Hong Kong last week. The woman said she was subjected to derogatory comments and gestures. The post also sparkled a debate on whether it is OK to ever recline a seat. 

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The Cathay Pacific recovery continues with a second consecutive month carrying more than two million passengers.    Cathay Pacific carried a total of 2,068,979 passengers in August 2024, an increase of 15.9% compared with August 2023. However, the load factor decreased by 2.9 percentage points to 85.2%, as available seat kilometres (ASKs) increased by nearly 20%. Year to date, the number of passengers carried increased by 29.9% to 14,736,805, against a 36.1% increase in ASKs and a 29.2% increase in RPKs. Chief Customer and Commercial Officer Lavinia Lau said: “August marks the second half of the traditional summer travel peak. The strong demand we saw in July continued in August.” “We also set a new single-day post-pandemic record on 10 August carrying almost 75,000 passengers.” “Leisure travel demand from Hong Kong and the rest of the Greater Bay Area was strong throughout August with short-haul destinations being particularly popular.” The airline remains bullish for the upcoming ‘golden week’ holiday period. Cathay says destinations in Southeast Asia are among the most popular, with Japan and South Korea also seeing strong demand. New routes begin from October to Riyadh in Saudi Arabia and sister brand HK Express is launching services to Hiroshima, Japan in November and Phu Quoc, Vietnam in December. Cathay has just completed the buyback of all of the warrants it had issued to the Hong Kong SAR Government in 2020 as part of its pandemic recapitalisation. 

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Hong Kong based Cathay Pacific now offers free in-flight Wi-Fi service for First and Business class fliers. In fact, Cathay Pacific has been providing complimentary Wi-Fi to First class customers since 2022. Following successful trials on selected flights, the airline has now extended free in-flight Wi-Fi to Business class customers on all connected aircraft. This will be further extended to Cathay Diamond members travelling in all cabins from November this year. Chief Customer and Commercial Officer Lavinia Lau said: “We are committed to investing in and further elevating the experience we provide for our customers.’’ Customers using Cathay Pacific’s free Wi-Fi service get the same experience as paid Wi-Fi, enabling them to browse and stream audio, use social media and messaging apps, and access cloud storage services. Customers can connect with one device at a time, and can switch between devices at any time during their flight. Furthermore, all customers in all cabins get complimentary access to all pages on cathaypacific.com and the Cathay Shop during their flight. Over 90% of Cathay Pacific’s fleet is equipped with Wi-Fi, including all long-haul aircraft. The airline plans to extend connectivity across the entire fleet by mid-2025. 

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Cathay Pacific Airways has completed inspections of its entire Airbus A350 fleet after a recent engine component failure. It initially grounded 15 planes found to have parts that need replacing. The issue appears to be related to a fuel system leak. A mid-flight incident occurred one hour after a Cathay A350 plane took off. It triggered a cockpit alert warning of an engine fire, the Aviation Herald reported. The airline canceled dozens of flights to inspect and make repairs. Cathay said disruptions will likely continue for the rest of the week while it replaces the engine components. Other airlines including JAL have been in touch with engine maker Rolls Royce or carried out inspections. "If the engine manufacturer takes any further action, we will respond accordingly," a JAL spokesperson said. Airbus is offering airlines ‘full technical support’. There are 86 A350-1000s currently in operation worldwide. Other airlines with this A350 model include Qatar Airways, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic.   

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Cathay Pacific has unveiled a new sonic branding initiative. ‘Song of Cathay’ aims to illustrate the airline’s love for travel and aviation It describes Song of Cathay as an ‘uplifting, inspirational and journey-like musical composition designed to forge deeper ties with customers.’ It draws inspiration from its heritage as an airline and travel brand. The musical composition, instrumentation and arrangements help to evoke memories of travel, and the spirit of adventure, it says. It can be experienced through various touchpoints and will be progressively rolled out and played in Cathay Pacific's lounges and aircraft, in the Cathay Shop at Cityplaza, and on Cathay's mobile apps and Spotify playlists. To celebrate the launch, Cathay collaborated with the Asian Youth Orchestra. The orchestra recorded it at its Rehearsal Camp in Tianjin last month and debuted it during its concert "Celebrating 34 Years of Excellence" at Hong Kong City Hall on 3 August Cathay Pacific has been a sponsor of the Asian Youth Orchestra since its inception in 1990. Cathay General Manager of Brand, Insights and Marketing Communications Edward Bell said: "Music is a unifying language that brings people together. We have put a great deal of thought and effort into bringing our sonic branding vision to life." 

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Cathay Pacific posted its June passenger traffic data for June 2024, and marked a new post pandemic record. On the final day of the month, Cathay Pacific and sister brand HK Express carried a combined 92,000 passengers. This is the highest daily total since the pandemic. It takes the number of passengers in the first six months of 2024 to approximately 13.5 million. Cathay Pacific carried a total of 1,837,706 passengers in June 2024, which is an increase of 18.7% year-on-year. The month's revenue passenger kilometres (RPKs) increased 23.7%. However, passenger load factor was down by 4.2 percentage points to 83.5%. This was down partly due to 30% extra seat capacity. Chief Customer and Commercial Officer Lavinia Lau said: "Following a slightly quieter month in May, travel sentiment rebounded with leisure travel on both long-haul and short-haul routes.” Demand for long-haul travel was driven by the peak season for returning student traffic. Load factors for the North America, UK and Europe were all close to 90%.” 

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Cathay Pacific and subsidiary HK Express have surpassed 10 million passengers carried for the year so far. It comes as the airline group released its passenger traffic data for May 2024. Cathay passenger traffic for the year to end-May 2024 is at 11.2 million. Cathay Pacific carried 1.6 million passengers in May 2024, which is an increase of 18.4% compared with May 2023. The month's revenue passenger kilometres (RPKs) increased 20.8% year on year while passenger load factor declined by 4.8 percentage points to 80.3% on increased seat capacity. In the first five months of 2024, the number of passengers carried increased by 40.7% compared with the same period for 2023. Chief Customer and Commercial Officer Lavinia Lau said: "May was, as expected, a slightly quieter period for our travel business compared with previous months as demand slowed down, particularly on our regional routes.” Due to no long-weekend holidays in Hong Kong, there was a 4% decrease in passenger traffic numbers compared with April, Lau said. “We saw increased demand from various countries in Southeast Asia due to the school holidays there.” “Additionally, our long-haul services were boosted by the return of student traffic to Hong Kong and the Chinese Mainland from North America, resulting in 90% load factors on our United States and Canada routes.” So far this year, Cathay Pacific has added flights to Chennai, Colombo and, as of this week, Barcelona to the global network. HK Express has added Beijing, Bangkok, Sanya and Clark in the Philippines. The two airlines now fly to more than 80 global destinations. 

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Cathay Pacific is enjoying continued strong travel demand into the second quarter of the calendar year. The Hong Kong carrier just released its passenger traffic figures for April. The airline has benefitted from leisure and business events in HK and around the region. Cathay Pacific carried a total of 1.7 million passengers in April 2024, an increase of 26.1% compared with last year. April’s revenue passenger kilometres (RPKs) increased 27.8% year on year. Passenger load factor decreased by 5.4% largely due to additional seat capacity. In the first four months of 2024, the number of passengers carried increased by 47.3% to 7.14 million. Chief Customer and Commercial Officer Lavinia Lau said: "April was another good month with multiple holiday periods and large-scale events stimulating travel.” There was a spike in demand for Easter and the Cathay/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens. Also, holidays in Indonesia and Thailand contributed to a rise in traffic from Southeast Asia to Hong Kong, the Chinese Mainland, Japan and other destinations. Toward the end of the month demand was up from the Chinese Mainland and Japan for their respective 'Golden Week' holidays. "In addition to leisure, April also saw healthy demand for business travel,” Lau said. Cathay airlines will operate 210 return flights per week between Hong Kong and the Chinese Mainland this summer. The Cathay Group will add more destinations and flights including the resumption of Barcelona service next month, and HK Express's Sanya and Clark services in May and June. 

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