Well then that makes even less sense. The CX J seat is not that different across aircrafts ignoring the ones that are falling apart on the 77W and 330 but thats CX's fault not the aircraft.

Do you have any evidence that the 330 would have come out any worse in that one very specific collision?

GBA has also started flying to HAK.
Obviously they're target customer pool is very different, but wonder whether their introduction to the HAK route will stifle CX's plans or induce downwards pressure on airfares?

Hong Kong Airline (HX) and Hainan Airline (HU) provide 1 daily flight, so before GBA came in there're already 2 daily flights and 4 weekly provided by CX.
I have no idea why HK Gov rely on CX instead of highly bonded with Hainan's HX and HU (HU is HX's mother)

I have no evidence. Only I remember the comment being made shortly after the incident that the fuselage of the A350 ignited at more than double the temperature at which a fuselage of a previous generation would burn. This gave time for the rescue team to identify/arrange a safe exit route and to only open a safe door. All people inside the plane got out. It was only about 15 minutes after the collision that the fuselage burst into flames. Of course it will take time before all new aircraft will be built of such fire resistant material but I, as a passenger, strongly prefer to fly in one. If I were an airline claiming to be premium I would take full account of this quality when procuring new equipment. Of course for commercial reasons no airline would ever advertise that its passengers have a better chance of surviving an incident if they are in the such a plane but it would be the case.

Maybe you should lobby them to commission a solar powered fleet? Jet fuel really does seem to be too dangerous.

im 75% certain CX would order the A330neo as its such a good natural replacement with little training required, and a slightly less capacity widebody, plus 2-4-2 seating gives it an edge against SQ's 3-3-3 regional seating. a lot of people realistically take economy far more than any other class due to many reasons.

If CX actually buys the B787 its very likely boeing needs to give such a huge discount. The A350 does make sense though.

Can CX buy Boeing and get reassurance from the US authorities that it can expand East coast-HKG (YYZ/BOS/JFK/EWR/ORD/DFW) over Russia, preempting UA/DL blocking?

:D:D:D

Does CX even have the pilots if it gets new planes? Perhaps consumers would prefer that they shore up their core operational reliability and run LHR-HKG properly before stretching themselves too thin.

CX is extremely unlikely to ever purchase the B787 or variants.
The aircrafts freight carrying capacity is just too small and being the world's leading passenger/freighter airline the freight carrying ability is of vital importance

LGW
 

LGW was being heavily rumoured to return from October this year, however, the latest ACL slot report shows that CX has chosen not to (re)apply for slots at Gatwick. With BA now down to 1 daily to HKG, I would hope that there would still be a chance for Cathay to resume flights to Gatwick, but it's still unknown at the moment. I suppose with CX also being part of One World, they could opt to resume Gatwick using some of BA's slots there, who are set to gain more there as previously leased slots are being returned to them.

can a 6th daily HKG LHR route possible ?

how about more A350-1000 ? can also act as alternatives when B777-300ER are undergoing installation of Aria suites

People seem to ignore the 438 seat regional 17 777-300 fleet which is Cathay's oldest. A regional A35K could replace them or CX could decide to use 50% more 300 seaters. If the latter HKG may be able to handle the increased number because of the new runway but it may put strains on the other end of the routes.

I'm fairly certain that there are very few airport slots available at Heathrow. Further, slots at LHR are ridiculously priced. If CX increased their services to London, 100% guaranteed they'll resume services to LGW instead of adding an additional daily flight to LHR.