Originally Posted by
oldchinahand
Most of the 'mainland' routes namely Tokyo Taipei Manila Bangkok are not in China
The A321neo is far from 'tiny' with 202 seats. The B777-300 has 340 seats NOT 450 and in any case was never the most frequent aircraft on the HKG-Manila route which I have flow about 15 times a year for the past more than 20 years.
Of course only the early flight of 5 or 6 has the A321 the other flights at the moment being served by the A330 -hardly the massive downgrade that you imply.
the 777-300 has 438 seats. The A321 can't carry cargo, I guess CX has also lost market share there lol
But yeah these A321 r not being used on secondary cities or for connectivity.
Clearly they are being used in place of wide bodies instead of opening routes because CX has lost so much appeal and brand power that they cannot fill 777s in spite of being right in the middle of the most populated region on earth.
So much for the gateway to China when SQ and scoot have greater connectivity.