HKG-NYC nonstop coming
 

I was told by a management trainee who worked for the General Manager of revenue and sales that they plan to launch the HKG-NYC service within the next few months.

really?
we've been hearing that for soooo long.

[This message has been edited by jakob (edited 10-03-2002).]

I have it on good authority from a very senior source within CX who told me that he knows absolutely nothing.

Unless CX is planning new aircraft acquisitions that nobody is talking about, this is a non-starter.

The only a/c that can operate HKG-JFK non-stop effectively are 777 ERs and 340-500's, neither of which CX has.

The only aircraft they have that can operate at this range is a 744 operating under a very heavy weight restriction (like the one-off for the opening of CLK). You can't make money doing that, though.

AC will start up YYZHKG non-stop in the spring with the arrival of their 345's, and CO will continue to operate EWRHKG with their 777's. I don't see anybody else being in a position to play in that sandbox for now.

Have you already forgotten the upcoming delivery of an Airbus 340-600(which also has the range to range HKG-NYC)?

hm.....let's see
In a one class seating:
A342-404 pax 8,000nm 606,300lb(Max take off)
A343-440 pax 7,300nm 606,300lb
A345-313 pax 8,500nm 805,500lb
A346-474 pax 7,500nm 805,000

One class seating
B744-569 pax 8,320miles 875,000lb

It looks up to now...CX prefers higher capacity aircraft than a higher range one....and a nonstop HKG/JFK with a A346 is actually very very marginal..but of course only the CX management knows what they want though.

of course CX can reduce the capacity of their A346 to fly the JFK nonstop route...anyway...

As soon as you restrict loads you start to affect the viability of the operation.

It would seem to me that even with an option of the CO non-stop, many people are choosing to fly on the one-stop from JFK to HKG. I am not sure if is either due to the cost of the ticket, the connections are better to other asia destinations, frequent flyer miles or better service. I do know that many people (whom I have met) choose to go out of their way to fly up to YVR to fly to Asia on Cathay when there are more direct flights from SEA.

Could it be that more people prefer a late evening departure from North America and an early morning arrival into Hong Kong? Continental's flight to HKG leaves EWR around noon and arrives around 4:00pm. I feel that if I took the day time flight, I wasting two whole days; the day of departure because I wouldn't get much work done and day of arrival since the work day is over. With the CX late evening departure/early morning arrival, it feels like you are losing only one day because I can work the entire day on the day of departure and arrival.

When CX announced plans to start JFK-HKG n/s service last year in a 343, wasn't it on a bird with limited Y seating?

Just looked in this archived thread and apparently the plans were for a 343 with 60 J seats instead of 38.

http://www.flyertalk.com/pasttalk/ft...ML/000223.html

The CX evening departure is a great schedule and service in J and F is terrific; substantially better than CO service in BusinessFirst. (BTW, I flew CO's BusinessFirst MXP-EWR on a 777 in 2000 and found the service satisfactory but not real special by CX and SQ standards.)

Aside from better service on CX, the AA/CX Repeat Rewards offer is too good to pass up. I'm sure I need not elaborate on the virtues and benefits of The Wing/The Pier as well as service from "Cathay Girls."

I certainly hope JFK-HGK-JFK nonstop service on CX comes, but I don't expect it anytime soon given the current economy and CX fleet capability. IIRC, prior to the postponement of CX's nonstop the planned schedule was a morning departure from JFK. But perhaps that was timed to compete with UA's short-lived JFK-HKG-JFK nonstop.

I suspect CX would scrap plans to operate a JFK-HKG-JFK nonstop with a 340-300. As far as J seating, the current configurations for CX 343s are as follows: 343=40J seats; 34S=38J seats and 34C=30J seats. I don't think there's a good mix for yield with the current 343 fleet to handle a JFK-HKG nonstop. Of course, the story changes if CX has active plans to refurbish some 343s with another new configuration.

I also remember reading that the new CX 346s won't have sufficient range for a viable/sustainable JFK-HKG nonstop.