380Flyer

New strategy rollout in 2017

18 January marks the beginning of the rollout of the new business strategy for Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon, sharing how we will change and set ourselves up for sustainable success.

Some 350 of our senior leaders will come together that day for the 2017 Leadership Conference, where the focus will be on laying out the context for the new strategy, addressing the challenges currently faced, and showing how the new strategic direction will transform the way things are done across the airlines.
“This new strategic direction is going to impact everyone across the whole organisation,” says Director People Tom Owen.

“Our leadership team will not just be briefed on the strategy, but will leave the room clear and motivated about what happens next and what their own personal roles will be in delivering the strategy to their teams.”

Communication and engagement with our people will play a key role in making the strategy rollout a success. Leaders will be given toolkits and the support they need to engage with their teams, “and we’ll be taking regular temperature checks to ensure we are staying on course,” says Tom.

“We are explaining to senior managers that they need to lead and engage in a di erent way than before. We need all our people engaged and willing to go along with us on this journey if we are to begin to win again as an airline group.”

Colleagues can expect more face-to-face sessions to get an understanding of how each team ts into the bigger picture and can they can help to support the new direction. There will be an evolution of the strategy as it unfolds over 2017.

In advance of the strategy rollout, our people have been kept up to date on the critical review of the business now underway, with three Auditorium sessions held earlier in December to give the bigger picture on the current situation and what happens next.

See the combined January/ February issue of CX World for insights into the new strategy.

Source: CX World, December 2016

ClimbingCook

Err, is it just me or does this say nothing at all?

sxc

Well since the announcement is coming mid January, I wouldn't expect them to say much about the strategy at this point.

KrazyTrain18

Let us pray this new strategic direction does not continue the trend of wanting to be an LCC.

380Flyer

My prediction is that Cathay Dragon will take over CX's regional service with the exception of Japan whilst Cathay Pacific will focus on long haul flying.

It will be a balance between providing premium for upfront and a mix of full service and LCC fares for back end.

Ausriver

CX will keep PEK, PVG, SIN, BKK and TPE for sure.

MeltingAlf

Wouldn't there be some areas that CX would not be likely to cede even a likely "KA taking over regionals" strategy due to open skies agreements that allows for only two HK-based carriers?

I don't think CX/KA would like HX to enter these markets.

FlyPointyEnd

Don't forget MNL

I think CEB might be one of the next to be transferred.

G-CIVC

I hope that means they have a clearer picture of how understaffed they are on the front lines.

keitherson

It's going to be combined LCC/premium approach similar to EK charging for seat selection. Up for guess on how far the unbundling goes.

Also, they're going to possibly announcements re: JVs. They are already partnering with Air Canada and NZ, who are both not oneworld.

They've already made substantial cuts to both economy/premium for the MPC program with the revamp; I'd imagine they would penalize low-fare fliers more again.

keitherson

MNL as well. Lots of investment there already.
They could pull a Qantas and say, we will focus on premium traffic only and basically revamp their network and services. But my guess is more a shift to the bottom, unfortunately. Qantas was successful in offloading all their unprofitable and short-haul routes to Jetstar. Cathay has no LCC to do that; Dragon is still very much high-cost-base and full service.

sxc

the way this is termed in the first post doesn't sound to me like a Big Bang strategy shift like QF did with EK. It sounds more like typical bad management saying "we need to cut costs and we need to cut headcount" and we have to work together to get there. So more blind leading the blind "strategy".

Aus106080

They can be partly transferred.

brunos

I do not understand what these "transfers" to KA mean for CX staff.
I understand that planes can be transferred. But what about staf, both in planes and on the ground. Aren't KA staff under a different contract?

d00t

For KA staff it means they're growing with more routes, better cabin crew utilization, etc.

For CX staff, it means fewer routes. Probably means a hiring stop in certain countries like Malaysia.

The strategy meeting sounds like business as usual with a few shakeups to show something is happening internally. If there was any real urgency it would have already happened by now.