Cathay Dragon
 

For those interesting into knowing more about the so-called rumours relating to "Cathay Dragon"...

http://blogs.crikey.com.au/planetalk...k-competitors/

Because the author sometimes seemed to make a few assertions that I've never seen made with such confidence, I LOL-ed a few times and remain a little uncertain if it's meant to be a serious article. :p Or maybe my head's just screwed on sideways today.

since we are on rumors

this forum seems to indicate 25 777 to join CX

http://www.pprune.org/dg-p-reporting...-rounds-2.html

At least cx has registered for cathaydragon.com since 2006.
http://hostingspeed.net/account/view...thaydragon.com

Surprisingly, it will be expiring during June this year, wonder does that mean anything

Doubtful. Most domains renew their registration a short time before the expiration.

South China Morning Post
 

http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/a...nair-employees

Branding pictures baffle Dragonair employees

Three mysterious branding-type photos are raising questions on whether the airline is moving to align its image with parent Cathay

A new image may be in the works for Dragonair, judging from three photographs that appear to herald a brand relaunch.

One of the pictures shows a model standing in front of a plane with the words "Cathay Dragon" emblazoned across it. Industry insiders say the images are part of a genuine effort to sort out the future relationship between Cathay Pacific and its wholly owned subsidiary.

The pictures have been circulating among Dragonair employees. The airline said: "The photos are not from us," but would not say if it had commissioned the photography.

When Cathay Pacific bought Dragonair for HK$8.22 billion in 2006, it said it would allow Dragonair to operate under its own brand for six years. The deadline passed last year.

One airline source said: "Dragonair is much better known in [mainland] China than Cathay Pacific, whereas in the rest of world it's the other way around, so there are reasons why maintaining the status quo makes sense."

Michael Wong Kai-wo, chairman of the 1,200-strong Dragon Airlines Flight Attendants Association, said his colleagues found the images on a website in December.

Funny how they are not from them, but the pilot and flight attendant pictured were both asked to poise and then sign non disclosure agreements.

Simply the worst kept secret ever, or leverage to achieve another goal.

Im not sure which, but I know CX commisioned the adverts.

CX prepare kickstart rumor brand name "Cathay Dragon"?
 

Just notice CX and KA combined their Chinese Twitter(Sina Weibo) account into "Cathay and Dragonair", did the rumor new brand name "Cathay Dragon" is ready to launch?

I don't think this would be a good idea. The reality is that KA is (with limited exceptions such as BLR, which is due to be switched to CX anyway) a short-to-mid-haul airline. As such it gets away with a poorer onboard offering compared to CX (although the new regional business class will reduce this difference somewhat). However, CX avoids brand dilution by keeping the KA brand separate, while still offering the connectivity and seamless service. I think - and this is only a personal opinion - that this has the potential to dilute the CX brand. Look at BA - their shorthaul offering seriously damages their brand, IMHO.

Sounds a bit like China letting Hong Kong operate "under its own brand" for 50 years!

This is actually good in my opinion, it means CX isn't going to cheapen KA into a LCC airline like it was rumored a few years ago. It may also mean CX is finally going to absorb KA into its family and doing things the CX way - which in my opinion is much better than the KA way that I've personally experience lately.

My only worry is KA may drag down CX and not CX lifting up KA. We will see the wisdom of upper management in this regard.

Maybe it will be like this:

Short-mid haul: Cathay Dragon
Long haul (with some short-mid haul offering): Cathay Pacific

operating as two distinct services totally under one management rather than two managements.

or will there be a brand new name Cathay Dragon? In my opinion that will be a serious mistake, Cathay Pacific has such a world-wide recognition and its name stands for class, luxury, 5-star airline. Cathay Dragon sounds like a cheap teenage video game.

In whatever case, I'm just glad CX management is taking over KA management for good.

There is no Dragonair management. Its been a directionless ship for years with puppets from Cathay doing as they are told. Full absorption is the only way to sort it.

Although I know that Cathay Pacific has a world-wide recognition, but surprisingly in mainland China, people know the name dragonair more than Cathay Pacific.

Ka will never be fully absorbed into CX, it has a lower cost base and CX likes that.

CX would definitely not change the name Cathay Pacific to Cathay Dragon-uugh

talk about wasting nearly 70 years of brand recognition- and while the Chinese may not get cathay pacific yet- it is like Singapore airlines changing their name to Singapore Silk or Singapore Tiger...

if anything Dragonair's name could be changed to Cathay Dragon.- thus enabling the Cathay name to sink into China.

Combining media pages makes sense- to increase knowledge of CX

Speaking of which, should this forum be properly named as "Cathay Pacific/Dragon Air : Asia Miles" :cool:

I wonder how it will sound in Chinese, as usually it's two characters that represents an airline, but Cathay Dragon has four characters, unless they want to call it Guo-Long or Tai-Long?

.............

and then:

American Airlines / AmericaEagle | AAdvantage (Consolidated)
Japan Airlines / JAL Express | JAL Mileage Bank
Singapore Airlines / SilkAir | KrisFlyer

etc etc??? :rolleyes:

Cuz CX hadn't served Mainland China for a long time.

Suggestion
 

For the Airlines and Mileage Programs page, they should follow this format for Cathay Pacific. Below is an example:

Japan Airlines | JAL Mileage Bank
JAL, JTA, JAL Express, J-AIR, JAC, RAC, and JetStar Japan


Cathay Pacific would be:

Cathay Pacific | Asia Miles
Cathay Pacific, Dragonair

Mods, is it possible to follow the above format?

Just to add, I doubt CX and KA will operate under one license. You have to apply for new rights. And rights are hard to come by, so CX and KA will be as is. The only change we will probably see is branding, livery, things like that but not to a point KA gets fully absorbed into CX similar to US getting absorbed by AA.

Interesting, I would assume KA rights would automatically get transferred to CX? Or do you mean for certain markets (like China) it is easier for KA to get new rights as opposed to CX getting new rights?

I believe that's not how it works in HK.

It would be STUPID for CX to get rid of the KA certificate.

by KA being classified as a separate airlines CX prevents HK based competitors from entering certain route- India ( excl BOM) for example only allows to HK carriers to serve the market.

as said before it has a lower cost base...

Well, this thread was prescient back in 2013... ^

Now that this is official, closing this thread. You can continue discussion here:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/catha...ay-dragon.html

sxc
Cathay Pacific Moderator