Cathay Pacific Asia Miles - Dragon Air for new Asia routes to BKK, NRT, SYD, MNL, ICN

just read in today's edition of Ming Pao that CX has applied for 3X daily to Beijing, 4X daily to Shanghai, and 1X daily to Xiamen. Dragon Air is reported to have applied to the HK Gov't for rights to service Manila, Bangkok, Tokyo, Seoul, and Sydney. Citi Pacific (shareholders of both
CX and Dragon Air) believes there will be friendly competition in place between the 2 airlines as Dragon Air tries to grow from a regional carrier to an international carrier.

Friendly competition my .... Is that an attempt to make a premium airline and a budget airline? Don't see cheap prices on Dragonair for that? What is the point then? Any marketing guru on this board with insights?

31 Aug 2002 SCMP Business
After a 12-year absence, Cathay Pacific Airways has officially embarked on the long road to resuming services to the mainland.
The Hong Kong government yesterday unveiled for public consultation Cathay's application to the Air Transport Licensing Authority (ATLA) for rights to operate services to Beijing, Shanghai and Xiamen.
Andrew Pyne, Cathay's general manager for international affairs and its chief government negotiator, said that initial "indications we received from mainland authorities were positive". As such, he said there was hope that mainland services could begin as early as "the first quarter of next year".
For the services to be viable, Mr Pyne said the airline needed at least four flights daily to Shanghai, three to Beijing and one to Xiamen, a city with close economic links to Taiwan, the largest market for mainland-bound travellers.
However, Cathay still needs to complete the ATLA licensing process, which is expected to take at least until the end of the year. The government would then negotiate changes to the present bilateral arrangement with Beijing, completed in 2000, for specific route rights on Cathay's behalf.
The biggest hurdle is that the present deal specifies most mainland cities, except for Beijing, as single-carrier destinations for SAR airlines, meaning that only one Hong Kong carrier, presently Dragonair, can ply the routes.
Despite Cathay's optimism, it is virtually impossible to speculate as to how long it will take to push through the necessary changes with Beijing. Such talks can often take years to complete, as in the case of the ongoing Hong Kong-US talks.

China Eastern and China Southern Airlines have also spoken out in the past week to oppose Cathay's plans, further complicating the issue.
But whatever its chances, senior Cathay sources said the ATLA licence would at least allow it to push forward a timetable for talks to begin, as well as ensuring it had a voice in the negotiations.
More importantly, the sources said it would also give the airline access to the confidential commercial memorandum, which outlines specifically the air services rights that Hong Kong holds to the mainland.
The sources indicated that this document, which accompanies every air services agreement that Hong Kong signs, is only available to holders of the corresponding ATLA licences for those routes. The sources said Cathay was flying blind in its application for mainland routes, as it does not know exactly what rights Hong Kong - and, hence, Dragonair - holds under the present arrangement.
Cathay gave up its right to fly services to Shanghai and Beijing in April 1990 in favour of Dragonair, which it had acquired.
But Dragonair's growing independence - it is controlled by China National Aviation Corp - and the apparent relaxation of Hong Kong's "one airline, one route" policy in the wake of Dragonair's successful application for competing services to Taipei in June, has led Cathay to believe the time is ripe for a return to the mainland.
Alan Wong, Cathay corporate communications general manager, said the sweetener for Beijing to quickly approve the airline's application was Cathay's ability to help spur even quicker growth in the mainland travel market.
"Part of our contribution will be to make the pie bigger by using our international network," he said.

this is not 'marketing'
this is competition.

KA already has some promo to TPE as u know.

but eventually i believe the competition wd still be a lot mroe friendlier than in any other route

Dragonair to Challenge Cathay Bid

HONG KONG (AP) _ Hong Kong-based Dragonair said Tuesday it will challenge an application by the larger Cathay Pacific Airways to operate services from Hong Kong to the mainland Chinese cities of Beijing, Shanghai and Xiamen ...

http://www.wtopnews.com/news/newsdetail.cfm?newsID=631863