oldchinahand

Cathay first class will resume to Paris on 15th January and to Tokyo on 1st February. Also increasing to twice daily first to London in January.

The 777 ERs were wet-leased out to Qatar Airways in early 2022 but, as China starts to reopen for tourism, Cathay Pacific will be running the premium capable Boeing 777s for itself. With of course the cabin crews still well versed in the 1st class service
According to media reports passengers will find three new champagnes plus Krug 2004 Vintage and a locally produced craft beer on the drinks list, as well as JING teas and cold-pressed juices for those after a non-alcoholic tipple. New food options, including wellness and authentic Hong Kong dishes, have been added, including sustainably and ethnically sourced pork from Dingley Dell Farm in Suffolk, Nordic Skrei cod, and free-range eggs.

tuchop

I'm not sure where you got this information but according to Cathay's Press Release, its Krug 2004 during December as well as a white and red wine from Château Lynch-Bages.

oldchinahand

tuchop = published CAPA interview this week with Vivian Lo, General Manager Customer Experience and Design at Cathay Pacific

brunos

Just to clarify your summary. Is your understanding that the aircraft leased by QR will be returned to CX?

All I could find on Google is the article below, which is unclear, as CX had many more 77W with First class:
https://simpleflying.com/cathay-paci...-london-paris/

oldchinahand

Brunos . It is my understanding that they have already been returned. However mine is second hand information but from Cathay staff.
It seems that they must have been or in process otherwise I suspect the availability will be very tight as 16 still parked at Alice springs and 4 listed as parked elsewhere. Not sure how many are 4 class without checking further which I dont have the time to do.
I have a very vague memory that there were only ever about 26 of the newer 4 class aircraft - however I stand to be corrected on this.

brunos

The four birds are currently flying with QR to MLE. I checked on FR24.
They are still scheduled there in 2023 (I checked until June).

CX had some 40 77W. Like you, I don't know the 77A/77K breakdown, but I suspect that a majority were still with F.
It would be more profitable for CX to reactivate some of those parked and keep their lease with QR.
They are already using a few 77A sold as 3-classes only, and their expanding flight program requires to reactivate quite a few 77W.

oldchinahand

With all covid restrictions now lifted CX 'will need all the 'birds' it can get back in the air ASAP.
Conflicting reports re their return to Cathay and so we will see.
It is taking a long time (about 6 weeks) to get each 77W back in the air and of course all work is off-shore so far from an overnight fix.
Having the 4 back from QR would be faster.....

davidtai

Do you think they have enought staff/cabin crew to run the F cls?

oldchinahand

Yes plenty = 6000 at present and a further 1000 being trained. They still need another 1000+ in order to operate full schedule later in 2023 though. Many applicants i understand.

AC340-541

Per https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...qK1TjaSS6M/pub, the 77W fleet is broken down into 18 77K (three-class) and 22 77A (four-class). This should be updated, as I see that some of the 77K are noted to be in a "cargo configuration" which was used during COVID.

Conkers

This is all very encouraging - thank you for the information updates!

YOWgary

Any update on F lounges reopening at HKG?

Conkers

Any updates on F re-introduction please?

18wheeler_vanrekt

The Wing, First has been open as the lounge for both First and Biz eligible passengers departing either HKG or transiting from Mainland China. All other transit pax get The Pier, the business class side. This was done in order to have a full partition of the airport from (formerly)-COVID-strict HKG and China from the Rest of the World

Update: Exec-Traveler reports this partition has been dismantled, anyone with a First ticket has access to The Wing once again! https://www.executivetraveller.com/n...g-kong-lounges

drivingflyingwalking

The aeroplanes are not wet leased to QR and will not come back from QR. The 777 that were with Cx that are now with QR were not owned by CX they were leased airframes that were returned to the owner and subsequently leased by QR from the leasing company, these airframes will never return to Cathay.

The remaining 777 in Australia will take quite some time to return to Cathay if ever, first of all Cathay does not have enough 777 pilots they either all left, were made redundant or transferred to other fleets most noticeably the 747.

Even if and when they decide to return those 777 it takes 2-3 months to do so because they have been away for so long they have to undergo a heavy 'c' check which is a costly and time consuming process, not to mention the fact many items on those aircraft have expired and need concessions to get them out of Australia and into China to undergo the checks.

The next destination to resume first class service is HND in February and will be followed by LAX sometime soon (2-3 months), assuming they have enough resources to offer the product consistently, ie first class trained cabin crew, cockpit crew to fly the 777 and enough first class equipped 777 aircraft.