NZflyer777

upto 2027. no growth. From there the number of 779 plus 77er will finally exceed the 53 777 ers CX had in 2018 so, some growth is likely.

Also if you are suggesting that an A321 or even 2 A321s are a replacement for a long haul 777 300 ER , I really don't know what to say.

Anyways facts are proving that I am correct. CX still has not returned to LGW, EWR ,IAD, SEA ( kinda awkward considering Taipei now has 4 daily flights.) Capetown, Rome, Adelaide, Cairns ( some posters have claimed this market is not profitable, SQ has just expanded there) Dublin, Copenhagen, Brussels. Plenty of cities in the Middle East and India ( CX cargo just abandoned BLR, the same time EK cargo launched. ) still too many cities to mention in Asia and China that have not been connected.

Let alone frequecies of the existing routes.
it Is mathematically impossible for CX to hit a 2018/19 schedule until 2027

The pandemic has only shown the HKG government that if it wants any hope of restoring HKG as an aviation hub it needs to take over the airline like ME3 and SQ l. ( or have big daddy Beijing take over) SWIRE just gutted the business and got rid of experienced execs and pilots.

NZflyer777

This is true.
But CX plus KA used to have 4000 pilots.

Now only 2600.

Reply1984

I can only say it is not A330neo if it starts to arrive from 2028. But CX can choose between B78J and A359 regional.

Reply1984

And if my understanding is correct, CX acquired purchase rights for 32 more A320/A321neo when they exercised their previous purchase rights in 2023. It would take CX’s A320/A321neo fleet to 96(64 firm orders + 32 purchase rights)

oldchinahand

Cathay is paying all staff a 7.2 week bonus as a result of the good profit results

gwang0618

only 7.2? I would expect something like a 5 month bonus since this year they reached a record profit since 2010

Reply1984

During the press conference the management revealed that this new type of aircraft would take multiple missions, flying to both regional destinations, and Australia and even Europe. Very interesting.

CX HK

Cathay group currently has 2900 pilots, and they need 3400 to get back to pre-Covid capacity. Surprisingly, 3400 is even less than the number of pilots in Oct 2020.

As per SCMP:

"Cathay chief operations and service delivery officer Alex McGowan said there was a shortfall of 500 pilots across the premium carrier Cathay Pacific and budget unit HK Express. The company had 2,900 pilots and needed to have 3,400 in place to fulfil the target of 100 per cent pre-Covid capacity, he said. He noted the figure of 3,400 was even lower than the number in October 2020.He said the company was stepping up training and hastening promotions of first officers to fill the gap this year. McGowan said pilot turnover stood at 2 per cent now, a record low."

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/...gtype=homepage

oldchinahand

Why please ?

A 5 month bonus would be almost the largest bonus ever given by any major airline to ALL staff.
Emirates (who of course do not need to make profits) gave 24 weeks bonus in 2023 but not to all its reported.

Cathay staff also received a bonus end 2023. thus suggesting a further 5 months is is just rather silly.

oldchinahand

I don't believe so but possibly it will be another variant of the A330. I say that given Cathays closeness to Airbus and the size of the potential order plus the lack of alternatives.

gwang0618

ah ok. Nah I'm just thinking about it out of the blue. Ignore my stupidity.

djsflynn

It would indeed be very odd for Cathay to choose a Boeing at this stage, so I'd think an A350-1000 or some A330 variant (A330neoXL? LOL).

oldchinahand

So not the "over 1000" short as often quoted by SCMP per supposed information from the local union. Of course in 2020 Cathay still employed many pilots that were later let go as the pandemic measures bit harder in HK.

djsflynn

It's an interesting move for sure... a very flexible aircraft which could as you say edge out some 777s and A330s, and yet 2028 delivery comes two years after the A330s start to get a flatbed regional business class... you'd usually expect an order to be a bit of a like-for-like replacement, but this one seems to redefine the current fleet/network balance to some extent.

oldchinahand

Cathays woes re lack of pilots and high resignation rates have often been quoted here and in the media.
It was thus revealing to note that the pilot turnover rate at Cathay revealed by this weeks reports was in the last year a very low 2%
This despite the unions and 'pprune's ' willie wavering claims of pilots resigning in droves" oft repeated by the now unreliable SCMP

Although pilot numbers are still lower than is ideal they are half of the above's claims of 'over 1000 pilots short"