What will replace the A330-300's in CX's fleet?
 

Recently I have been flying some A330-300 aircraft which are more than 20 years old. It is expected that they will be replaced sooner or later. However, I cannot think of an obvious replacement for these aircraft. Will CX simply order more A350-900 to replace them?

The default replacement for the A330-300 is usually the A350-900, A330-900 or B787-9... But CX 330 even though are quite old, seem to still be doing the job quite well... Hope a replacement program is in the works..

Cross my fingers for A350-900s to replace A330s and A350-1000s to replace the even older 777-300s, with some decent bizzo seats in 1-2-1 configuration, in reduced number if deemed appropriate and a small premium economy section, perhaps both between door 1 and door 2.

Previously I would have said that the 787-10 might be an obvious choice, particularly if CX wishes to maintain a dual OEM fleet with significant fleets of each of AB and Boeing. Not sure however how CX now sees medium to longer term demand on the short and medium haul network.

it is something of a misnomer that the A330 fleet is old.
The average age of the Cathay A330 fleet is 14.6 years.
Of the fleet of 40 only 30 aircraft are active .
Of these only 4 are currently active that are over 20 years old.
These other older aircraft are ex Dragon and several are leased aircraft that are unlikely ever to re-join the active Cathay 330.
Most of the A330 fleet is under 10 years old and do not currently need replacement

Good point.
"Deleted my silly comment.on A330 configurations."

The A321 will be the alternative on regional routes. CX should get a total of 32 of them.
It has a poor regional J product (not attractive for transit pax) but a good Y seat with great video.

10 of the fleet are 10 years and younger with a further 17 between 10 and 20 years. The remainder are old birds. Suspect this, together with the fact that the regional 777-300 classics are also ageing prompted recent CX comments that they are in the market for a regional fleet replacement. Unclear whether a321s + a330s can do the job for now or something bigger is needed. That combination certainly wouldn’t have been enough for the old network. I’ve had several regional flights recently on the old birds (ex Dragon and non-long haul j) and the product is really looking tired.

No, not all A330 currently in service are in the long-haul config. I have been flying several A33P (as Cathay call them) aircraft (e.g., HKG-KUL, HKG-TFU, HKG-MNL), which have only 24 regional Business seats and 293 Y seats.

I believe the A350-900 sounds right

Appears to me 339 is a natural successor of 333, given its range and size (price too) should better suit regional routes. But when factoring in 773 issue, maybe 78X is right for replacing the whole regional wide-body fleet.

Hopefully they'll be looking at something like an A350 regional (like SQ perhaps?) as the new workhorse of the regional fleet (I'm quite biased towards the 359 as it offers a significantly more comfortable economy experience)

Personally I don't think they'll bother to buy an entirely new family of planes (the 787) due to maintenance costs and might just look at the 35K-->77P and 359-->333? Even though some articles suggest that the cx might even use 77Ks to replace current 77Ps

The 350 is also significantly cheaper to operate per seat.
The B787 although considerably cheaper than the A350 seems unlikely to me also.
Perhaps a new variant of the A350...........
Another scenario is that CX needs to replace its older B747 freighters. The B777 is a good freighter perhaps no new B777 passenger aircraft at all......

Does anyone have any idea when the Ultra fan will be ready for service?