technically QR is sending its most premium heavy aircraft with first class (barely any routes have it) to HKG

CX likes to focus on monopoly markets and things they have an advantage in, so DOH would be last in their list; maybe places like bahrain would be better

Have also noticed the same re. lack of European expansion, although as has been previously mentioned, I suspect this has largely been caused by the Russian airspace closure and longer flight times. Going into winter and the new year, does anyone think there is a realistic chance CX could start reintroducing some of the routes that were introduced under Rupert Hogg, and if so, which ones could come back? I am also surprised that CX have shown no indication that FCO, one of the longer standing routes, will be reinstated any time soon, despite the fact that the airline is still aiming for a 100% pre-pandemic passenger capacity resumption next year.

As some fellow posters point out, I believe that "100% pre-pandemic" figure being thrown around includes HK Express. Cathay, as in the airline you're referring to, will not be at 100% pre-pandemic, and it's an open question when that will ever happen.

Cathay did not close its purchase of UO until early 2021 IIRC.

If this is all correct, then Cathay to Cathay comparison will be well below 100% pre-pandemic capacity, and it's a plainly deceptive claim, even if technically accurate. Because UO existed and serviced HKG "pre-pandemic"....just not under CX ownership, and conveniently out of CX's comparison base.

There's also a reason they usually speak in terms of restoring the number of destinations: apparently quite a few of those 2010s route introductions were not profitable (many were even relatively close to existing destinations like DUB/LHR, BRU/AMS, IAD/JFK, SEA/YVR) and so don't necessarily make sense to restore. At the same time they're under political pressure to introduce some different routes (see reintroduction of Riyadh) or being lobbied for them by certain places outside the US or EU (Cairns). So they might get back up to the same number of destinations (who knows when) but the route mix will be different.

-- posted by mistake -

That's maybe what CX thinks, since it has to, but clearly not how outsiders see it.

ME3:
EY sends The Residence A380 to BOM/SIN: https://www.etihad.com/en-us/fly-eti...et/airbus-a380
QR Premium lounges are in BKK/SIN: https://www.qatarairways.com/en-us/lounges.html

Europe/US/AU:
Large-scale cuts to HKG (and China too, so it's a macro thing).
QF flights down, CZ is starting ADL from CAN and CX can't restart.
KL below daily, IB/SK/OS not even flying to HKG. LA yet to restart MUC (which TPE and SIN and BKK have)
BA doesn't even want to send more than one daily to HKG.
AF doesn't send its first class to HKG, despite some strong business ties, preferring SIN/TYO. https://wwws.airfrance.us/informatio...ec-la-premiere
CX can't even get its CDG route to work well.
AA no longer at HKG. US airlines preferring to supply TPE and even MNL. UA four daily is a bright spot, I suppose.
AC is not boosting YVR to compensate for no YYZ.

Speaking of India, CX could be capturing India-West Coast flows but cedes that market share to ME3 and SQ.

A lot of this is due to Russia overflight issues (which don't affect other Asian destinations as much for geographic reasons) and a lot of it doesn't account for the fact that it doesn't mean HK isn't more premium than other Asian markets regardless of having economic issues at the moment relative to its past performance AND still has more direct connections to the west than a lot of rising but still less wealthy Asian cities and economies. Yeah, you can make arguments about e.g. Tokyo or Singapore, but most of Asia is poorer and more poorly connected than HK.

Elites in HK aren't going to prefer QR with a Doha stop at 2am as much when they can sleep through a direct journey on a roughly equivalent airline. Hence the HKers flying Qatar (or people heading the other direction, like the many westerners I know who can't afford Cathay) are often doing it for price reasons. It's "not premium" for QR for that reason, not because HK has fallen economically behind all the second-tier South Asian cities the ME3 serve bigtime. Even with respect to BOM, which has other connections, EK is sending bigger planes because locals prefer it to Air India, because it's still a poorer city than HK and the price is right on ME3 compared to other carriers, and possibly because the layover is less disruptive on a shorter journey when they're not sleeping as much.

youre only focusing on facts on why HKG not getting a lot of flights from foreign airlines this winter, and not why.
Most airlines couldn't really compete with CX (its great economy class and consistent product) in HKG, which is why there's less foreign airlines now, its dominance is far higher than pre covid, and a lot of flights are full in all classes in CX, especially monopoly routes like YYZ, BCN and a lot more. CX is adding new routes and frequencies to BNE, LAX etc. There are Russia issues and makes any route to asia from Europe or America is much less profitable than transatlantic, which gives any airline heaps of money.

CX has slot limitations in India, and IB/SK/OS have a limited long haul fleet. AA doesn't care about asia at all.
not to mention changing consumer preferences and worsening safety in many places, are causing Hong Kong people traveling to almost everywhere (except for japan and mainland china) to fall compared to 2019, and that sure will affect these routes.

and, honestly how "premium" the planes airlines send doesn't reflect overall economy, in my opinion. EK sends plenty of first class planes to more lesser known cities, for example.

MAN frequency going from 4 to 6 per week:

https://www.aeroroutes.com/eng/240917-cxnw24man

UO new service to Sendai
 

HKG-DFW starting DFW service 24Apr2025

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...3f860cc1f.jpeg

Brand new destination in US: DFW

Starting from April 24 2025, CX will fly to DFW 4 times per week, with its A350-1000

CX898 HKG 1605-1755 DFW
CX897 DFW 2355-0505+2 HKG

I thought AA can't code share on CX because of the Russian overflight, without an American flight number on this service I don't see how Cx will do?

I don't think DFW has to use Russia Airspace. I think when I flew AA DFWHKG we went over the Pacific.

Suprised that the US approved this, given the current geopolitical situation and the US carriers lobbying against foreign airlines flying over the USSR. Or would they bypass the USSR on this route?