I think the way I read that article is "No MIA pax service by CX any time soon", as always;)

HX doesn’t have the reliability or low pricing of UO, HK express, nor the network, quality, or loyalty programme of CX. They are in identity crisis. Until they sort it out, they are the weakest, even weaker than GBA in Hong Kong market.

their flights are frequently delayed/canceled. Website is a mess. Are they full service, low service or no service airlines? I don’t know.

KA used to serve Jinan (TNA) before it closed down. Wonder if CX has any plans to serve this destination again? Many thanks.

HX is not cheap and frequently cancel flights. UO is much more reliable and it is always on time too.

What are the chances that their new Australian services will be cancelled and the rights become available for Cathay? I expected Cathay to go four each day to MEL and double daily to PER and BNE.

Highly likely. There are some rumours that 3 of HX A333 will leave within this year and maybe more will follow. With the introduction of B787 being cancelled, I think it is very likely that HX will not launch their daily service to MEL, and the daily service to SYD could also be downsized.

As much as I would like it, I think 4 daily to MEL is unlikely. I take this sector frequently and the loads don’t seem to be consistently there (at least for now).

MEL still isn’t back to x3 daily post COVID and I don’t recall MEL ever having more than x3.

HX has been losing money for many years and have some degree of unreliability. Their website is crappy.
But it can be an attractive option.

I recently had a return flight to DAD (Danang) in Business. The price was a tad below 5,000 (busy holiday period) on A330 with flat bed that my painful back enjoys. CX does not fly to DAD, but on their typical short routes, they charge a tad above 10,000, often with a recliner seat.
UO has low starting price in Y, but if I add the cost, for priority, first row, a suitcase and golf bag (free on HX J), and a meal I get close to HX J price with much less service (no lounge and a crappy Y seat with neighbours). It's an easy choice.
HX flies from Midfield which is convenient with the train, as opposed to the long hike to UO satellite. Their lounge there is decent. And they use the nice common lounge at DAD used by all international airlines.
Service on ground and in the air was very attentive. Dinner was good (a bit better than CX) and excellent service. The only problem is that some of the A330 do not have operational entertainment system (some streaming though); that was on one of my two flights.
But it was an excellent full service J experience, as opposed to the mediocre LCC Y on UO.
For years, HX has been expected to wind down, and it might happen soon. Too bad.

I would echo that the HX crew are excellent.

HX will not fail. I think it's a tool for money laundering for the Hainan Group as a sizeable foreign entity, but don't expect too much from it.

HX is pretty much, and has always been, somewhere in between CX and UO in terms of offerings

CX undoubtedly is a top toer full cost carrier, comparable to airlines lile Korean Air or China Airlines

UO resembles Ryanair and easyJet, everything costs extra from seat selection to a cup of water onboard, and more importantly, carry-on luggage; just that they don't charge 500 HKD to print the boarding pass in the airport

HB is pretty much LCC, less extreme than UO (carry-on luggage included, seat selection available at check-in if I remember correctly) but with far less routes and frequency

HX does not fit into either categories - they do offer complimentary food and drinks in Y, a full hot meal on select routes (all long-haul destinations, plus limited Asian ports like PEK, SHA, KIX, NRT, CTS etc.) and select timings (short-haul red-eyes and late evening departures excluded) that is less premium than what CX would serve (few/no starters, a cheaper dessert/brand of ice-cream compared to the Haggen Dazs on CX, less/no alcohol), and for other flights, a hot or cold snack depending on whether a functioning oven is available;
IFE is available on select A330s, and all HX tickets include checked bags

one issue I observe for HX would be flight scheduling, rebookings due to the flight not operating on a particular day (probably something to do with loading), or downgrades due to an equipment swap to a Y-only aircraft are common, but it is not that many HX flights are delayed/cancelled leaving passengers stranded in the airport

if the same level of service is to be offered in Europe / North America, they could probably thrive as a FSC; in fact, HX won't be anywhere behind say BA or LH when it comes to inflight offerings; but in the continent where multiple airlines compete on serving hot meals in Y for a 2-hour HKG-TPE hop, they're in a hard mode

Regular commuter between SGN & HKG here, and just came out of CX769 done by A321neo. Agree two-hand with all your comments about the Neo, but just want to share a bit about the situation on SGN fixture.

764 was my preferred choice whenever departing SGN, and most of the time the load was really bad for CX. Business was occupied only around 20%, while on Economy at least 3-4 rows at the back of the A330 were empty. And it makes sense given the new situation after Covid. Between the two fixtures, I guess 767/766 will always do considerably better than 769/764 when it comes to connecting passengers. 767 carrying passengers coming to SGN from the West or Australia, while most of the outbound connections are within reach for 766. On the other hand, 769 can only take people coming back from Japan or other North Asia, and 764 is now only for those opting for redeye flights to Japan & West Coast of NA. (Before Covid, maybe EU also; but now CX is no longer an ideal option given the longer time having to avoid Russian airspace).

So imo it makes sense for CX to downgrade 769/764 to A321neo. Having said that, riding Neo is far from comfortable. As other commenters already pointed out, legroom is so terrible, or feels even worse than low-cost if considering the tray table, if extended in full, would press against my stomach. Also feel for the stewardesses, they must have a very hard time doing the work on such a cramped space.

Does Cathay Pacific rely on Qatar that much? From their website they place their CX code on the following QR flights to/from Doha:

• Adana,
• Addis Ababa,
• Alexandria,
• Almaty,
• Amman,
• Ankara,
• Antalya,
• Athens,
• Bahrain,
• Baku,
• Belgrade,
• Bodrum,
• Cairo,
• Cape Town,
• Dammam,
• Istanbul,
• Jeddah,
• Johannesburg,
• Madinah,
• Muscat,
• Mykonos,
• Nairobi,
• Riyadh,
• Salalah,
• Seychelles,
• Taif,
• Zagreb

Looks like the two could look into expanding their codeshares.

That is already a lot of codeshares, isn't it?
QR is a significant shareholder in CX and they are in the same alliance.
But CX also has many other codesharing partners.

They also have many interline partners, whose tickets CX are more than happy to sell on their website.

For example, if I want to fly to Entebbe, Uganda, CX will sell me a transit onto flight EK729 (DXB-EBB) from flight CX731 (HKG-DXB).