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A magazine for staff and friends of Cathay Pacific
AirwaysOctober 2014, Issue 222
http://eworld.oneworld.comhttp://www.cathaypacific.com
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This month sees Cathay Pacific make another inroad into the
hugely important North American market. Our new freighter service
to Calgary launches on 17 October, making us the only carrier to
operate west-bound freighters from Alberta province to the Far
East. We see high potential for carrying everything from heavy oil
and gas field equipment to chilled meat shipments on our
state-of-the-art 747-8F freighters.
The launch of this latest destination underscores the tremendous
effort we have made to open up new airfreight markets during what
has been a very difficult few years for the industry. “Chasing the
freight” has become the rallying call for our Cargo team who have
done a sterling job in strength-ening our network despite demand
remaining in a continued slump.
The Calgary launch also highlights the fundamental importance of
North America to the future of Cathay Pacific, for both our cargo
and passenger businesses. This year has seen us mak-ing a huge leap
in capacity to North America – and the US in particular – as we
make good use of Hong Kong’s hub position to connect the world’s
most vibrant economies.
After a modest beginning – our North America adventure started
in 1983 with a weekly passenger service to Vancouver – we now have
seven passenger destinations in the US and Canada offering a total
of 104 flights per week. We introduced a significant increase in
capacity to the US this summer, adding one more daily flight to Los
Angeles and three more flights a week to Chicago, and we have
already announced that a new service to Boston will launch next
May. That is a big expression of our commitment to the market.
On the cargo side our growth has been equally impressive. In
addition to three points in Canada we now serve nine points in the
US, and within the past year we have successfully devel-oped a new
airfreight lane between Mexico and the Far East.
This combination of a strong network and a highly efficient
fleet puts us in the best possible position to connect Asia with
North America; it’s an advantage we have worked hard to build – and
it’s one we intend to keep.
Ivan Chu
Chief ExecutiveMessage
Forging deeper ties
PRD push continuesThe Pearl River Delta region continues to grow
in importance for Cathay Pacific’s passenger business, recently
entering the top five sales territories in terms of revenue
generation.
The region has enjoyed double-digit revenue growth to date in
2014, driven by the spending power of its comparatively wealthy
population of 60 million people and boosted by the open-ing of a CX
sales office in Shenzhen earlier this year.
“It’s been a strong performance so far this year, though we are
aware of challenges that lie ahead such as the slowing Chinese
economy and increasing competition from other carri-ers offering
direct services,” says Manager Pearl River Delta Steve Xiong.
Steve explains that demand for travel has been on the rise out
of the PRD – from a grow-ing corporate base as well as migrants,
students and other independent travellers – and that CX is
well-positioned to capture demand through
its comprehensive network and frequency ad-vantage out of
HKIA.
Many travellers who live in the southern part of the PRD still
prefer to travel out of Hong Kong, making good use of the
ever-improving infrastructure that includes ferry services and more
than 500 daily coaches and limousine ser-vices to HKIA.
“Dragonair’s two daily flights from Guang-zhou have also proved
to be a popular means of connecting from the northern part of the
PRD into HKIA, but we have seen increasing compe-tition from the
growth in airports and carriers in the region,” Steve says.
The PRD team is keeping a close eye on travel trends, with a
recent shift away from Southeast Asian destinations to North Asia,
and a surge in demand to the USA and other long-haul
desti-nations.
Groups used to make up the bulk of traffic but, with improving
language proficiency and
access to travel information, individual travel-lers are
becoming more common, particularly among the younger
generation.
Premium traffic accounts for a relatively small share of the
overall business, “but with expand-ing corporate accounts and
increasing wealth, the potential for CX is significant, especially
given our superior products and services,” Steve explains.
Those products and services have been pushed hard by the PRD
team, which has have been busy spreading the word about CX through
the travel trade and close engagement with media partners.
“We have been making continuous invest-ments for both CX and KA
in the PRD – from the Shenzhen office to marketing initiatives –
and our young and growing team has been working hard to drive the
business improvement,” Steve explains.
Contribution grows as team assesses opportunities and
challenges
Chief Executive Ivan Chu met with Wang Zhiqing, Vice Minister of
Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), in Beijing on 15
September.
Ivan introduced to Vice Minister Wang the rich history and
recent developments of the Cathay Pacific Group.
The Vice Minister spoke highly of Cathay Pacific’s efforts in
promoting the communication and business interactions between Hong
Kong and Mainland China over the last few decades.
The delegation discussed topics covering the aviation industry’s
future opportunities and challenges, along with insights from both
private and public sectors.
Ivan also took the opportunity to present the “Spirit of Hong
Kong” aircraft model to Vice Minister Wang as a souvenir, and
invited him to visit Cathay City in the future.
General Manager International Affairs Arnold Cheng and General
Manager China Paul Loo also attended the meeting, along with Head
of CAAC Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan Affairs Office Ding Ming.
DYNAMIC DELTA: The PRD team pictured with GGT colleagues at a
recent event to bid farewell to outgoing manager Maggie Yeung.
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4
Security Ops go 24/7New combined CX/KA team responds to growing
security challengesSecurity is one of the most im-portant issues
affecting the airline industry today.
From the day-to-day challenge of keeping flights safe to
ensuring strict adherence to ever-changing international
requirements, the demands placed on the airline se-curity team is
growing all the time.
In Hong Kong, the operations of both Cathay Pacific and
Dragonair continue to grow, with the airlines moving ever closer to
a round-the-clock operation.
In response to this growing challenge, the integration of the CX
and KA Security Operations teams took place in August, and from 14
September the newly cre-ated Corporate Security Opera-tions Team
(SEC Ops Team) began providing 24/7 coverage for all CX and KA
operations at Hong Kong International Airport. It also pro-vides
support to all outports.
The SEC Ops team has 17 staff under the leadership of Mary Kwok,
Security Manager Opera-tions. Mary is supported by five Assistant
Security Managers and 11 Security Officers. IN CONTROL: Staff from
Security’s Head Office and SEC Ops teams.
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Manager Corporate Security Tony Blackiston explains that the SEC
Ops team supports Corporate Security in Head Office to ensure
compliance with corporate, na-tional and international
require-ments designed to prevent acts of unlawful interference
with civil aviation – hijacking and hostage taking to name just
two.
“The SEC Ops Team also inter-acts with many government bod-ies,
private organisations and in-dividuals to ensure the safety and
The Cathay Pacific lounge at Paris’ Charles de Gaulle (CDG)
airport has been LEED certified to the Silver level.
“This is a great achievement as not only is this consistent with
our commitment to consider green standards for our new buildings
and refurbishments, this is also the first and only airport lounge
in the world that has received LEED certification to date,” Chief
Executive Ivan Chu said.
The LEED rating system, developed by the US Green Building
Council (USGBC), is the foremost programme for the design,
construction and operation of green buildings.
The CDG lounge received LEED certification for implementing
strategies that ranked highly in terms of sustainable site
development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection
and indoor environmental quality.
Examples include controlling energy efficiency by incorporating
the use of natural light in the design, using LED lighting and
installing movement sensors and meters.
“We’ve worked on this for three years, and this is recognition
of the time, effort and investment put in by our Property Services,
Product and Paris Airport teams, as well as the hard work of our
suppliers and contractors,” said Chris Leung, Property Planning
& Projects Manager.
Planning of the lounge refurbishment started in 2010, and it was
officially opened in September 2012.
A specialist LEED consultant was employed to guide the project
team to incorporate sustainable practices in the project.
“The green building movement offers an unprecedented opportunity
to respond to the most important challenges of our time, including
global climate change, dependence on non-sustainable and expensive
sources of energy and threats to human health,” said Rick Fedrizzi,
President, CEO & Founding Chair, USGBC.
“The work of innovative building projects such as the Cathay
Pacific lounge at Charles de Gaulle Airport is a fundamental
driving force in the green building movement.”
More than 44,000 projects are currently participating in the
commercial and institutional LEED rating systems, comprising over
eight billion square feet of construction space in 120 countries
worldwide.
LEED cert for Paris lounge
security of our staff, passengers and to protect corporate
assets,” says Tony.
The SEC Ops Team responsibili-ties are varied, with staff
needing to respond to specific security in-cidents as well as
continually re-viewing security procedures, mon-itoring security
service providers, support other departments during major incidents
and keeping man-agement informed of any security vulnerabilities
found.
Tony, who joined CX eight
months ago after working for a number of security organisations
in Hong Kong and overseas, says he has been “surprised and
en-couraged by the ability, dedica-tion and enthusiasm” shown by
operational security staff at both CX and KA.
“I encourage you to continue to support the team and seek their
assistance when necessary. To-gether we can make the working
environment safe, secure and inci-dent free,” Tony says.
Always on the alert at HKIATo get an idea of the scope of the
work of the CX/KA Security Operations team, CX World followed
Assistant Security Manager Sam Yung to find out what happens in a
typical day at the airport.
Sam may be asked at any time to handle an unruly passenger, stop
possible illegal immigrants, investigate inflight thefts, respond
to intoxicated passengers or inflight smokers, and assist with
cases of indecent or physical assault.
6.30amSam starts duty and his first task is to meet a Paris
flight on which a passenger failed to follow the safety
instructions of a crew member. Sam and the Security Officer are
told that the passenger repeatedly refused to fasten his seat belt
when asked by the crew.
The police are called and the passenger is taken away for
further investigation.
CX has a “zero tolerance” policy towards unruly behaviour by
passengers and Sam issues the passenger a letter of Refusal of
Carriage for future CX and KA flights.
This type of incident is not unusual – during the last 12 months
the SEC Ops team attended a total of 216 security incidents at
HKIA. 9.30amSam is advised by colleagues that while reservations
and check-in systems were being reviewed to monitor possible
illegal entry, two passengers bound for Toronto are found to have a
suspicious itinerary.
Sam and a Security Officer stop the passengers at the boarding
gate and Sam notices that the Canadian visitor visas in their
passports are counterfeit. The passengers are offloaded and handed
to the Hong Kong Immigration Department.
Airlines are subject to Immigration fines for carrying
passengers found to have incorrect travel documentation for the
receiving country, and are also responsible for the detention costs
and repatriation expenses for such passengers. The SEC Ops Team
profiles around 40 flights per day to identify passengers who might
be using a fraudulent travel document, intercepting them at
check-in counters, boarding gates or even during transit.
In 2013, SEC intercepted 2,678 passengers for enhanced travel
document checks. Of these, 213 were
denied travel as a result of improper or fraudulent travel
documents.
The intervention by the SEC Ops Team saved CX HK$5.9m during
2013.
The SEC Ops Team also works closely with the Financial Services
and eBusiness departments to combat fraudulent internet booking
transactions, with around 60 targeted flights reviewed each day to
detect any suspicious bookings.
In 2013, the SEC Ops Team identified 219 fraudulent transactions
and saved CX HK$1.6m.
12.00pmSam is on the move again after a scan of the check-in
system reveals that two theft suspects have made a reservation on a
flight to Kuala Lumpur. Sam works with the Airport Police to mount
a covert operation.
The suspects are observed by Sam and the team during embarkation
and one of them is caught red handed trying to steal cash from a
passenger’s cabin baggage that had just been stowed in the overhead
compartment. Both suspects are handed to the police who were on
standby at the boarding gate.
Sam recalls another interesting case, where a female Malaysian
passenger, who was suspected of internet ticket fraud and
inflight
duty free sales deception, was stopped by the SEC Ops Team at
HKIA.
The Security Officer noticed a large number of credit cards in
her bag and called for police assistance. A total of 67 counterfeit
cards and a counterfeit British passport were found in her
possession. She was arrested and later sentenced to four years and
four months of imprisonment.
3.00pmSam goes to the apron area to check aircraft for
unauthorised persons, check the inflight sales carts and ensure
that cargo shipments have not been tampered with.
Before finishing his shift, Sam is asked to provide assistance
to arrange escorts for deportees from Canada to China. It’s been a
long day, but a fruitful one, and he’s looking forward to getting
home for some well-deserved rest.
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5
Swire China Conference looks aheadThe fourth Swire
China Conference titled “China: Looking Ahead” was held
at The Mandarin Oriental,
Guangzhou on 8 August.
This year’s conference was the largest ever, attended by more
than 160 senior executives from Swire’s various business
divisions.
Held every two years, the Swire China Conference is a
platform for colleagues who manage businesses in China to learn
about the latest developments in the country. It also helps
facilitate the flow of ideas among different Swire group
companies.
Swire Chairman John Slosar gave a
quick overview of the context of the Group’s
developments in Mainland China.
He said that the company has invested significantly in different
businesses in China, which shows its confidence and commitment to
the market.
Looking ahead, the Group will continue to let the quality of
Swire management shine through, and provide services and products
that are relevant to Chinese consumers.
30 years of 747 flyingSenior pilot honoured by BoeingThere was a
big surprise in store for Senior Captain Frank Cassidy (pictured
left) when he was invited to attend a briefing by Boeing at Cathay
City last month.
The occasion was a talk by Boeing’s 747 Chief Pilot Mark
Feuerstein on the 747-8F pro-gramme. What Frank didn’t expect was
that he would be called up on stage in recognition of a major
personal milestone – his becom-ing the first pilot in the world to
complete 30 years of flying on the Jumbo.
“I knew from Mark Hoey [General Manager Operations in FOP] that
something might be going on, but they managed to keep the de-tails
under wraps,” Frank explains.
“It was a lovely surprise to be called to the stage,
particularly when Mark Feuerstein presented me with a model of the
Dash 8 which had been signed by Joe Sutter, the father of the 747.
I feel proud and privileged to have received such recognition.”
Frank is a true CX veteran having joined the airline in 1979 as
a First Officer on the L1011 TriStar, mov-ing across to the 747 in
1984. At that stage CX had just eight 747-200
passenger aircraft and one 747 freighter in the fleet.
And so began Frank’s three-decade journey on the world’s most
iconic commercial air-craft. He became a captain on the -200
“Clas-sic” in 1987 and later spent more than 20 years as a checker
and trainer on the fleet.
During his time in CX he has flown every variant of the 747
operated by the airline – and confesses that he’s never felt any
real urge to move across to another fleet.
Frank says that he’s always had a lot of respect for the 747 in
terms of its build and reliability and the sheer thrill of flying
the ma-chine.
“It handles so beautifully and is such a pre-dictable airplane,”
he says. “As for the
8F, it’s like moving from a Jaguar to a Ferrari – it’s a real
step change in everything from the way it handles to the scale and
performance.”
After a long and always-in-teresting flying career, Frank is now
looking forward to a relaxing retirement, with just the occasional
stint in a light aircraft to keep his
aviation passion alive.“I count myself as very
fortunate … I’ve had one of the best jobs in aviation for
35 years and I’m leaving on a high,” he smiles.
He further encouraged managers to build great teams, stay with
the company’s long term approach, be mentally flexible and focus on
quality, productivity and cost efficiency.
Other speakers included Adrian Harley, Director and Chief
Representative of John Swire & Sons; Sun Tong, Vice
Director, Hong Kong & Macau Affairs Department, Ministry of
Commerce of the People’s Republic of China;
Martin Jacques, author of international bestseller “When
China Rules the
World”; and John Spelich, Group Vice President
of the Alibaba Group.
Topics ranged from trends and challenges of Chinese economic
development to e-commerce and
sustainability businesses in China.
More than 160 attendees from 34 Swire group companies joined the
Swire China Conference, including Baroness Lydia Dunn, Director of
John Swire & Sons; Merlin Swire, Director of John Swire &
Sons; and John Slosar, Chairman of John Swire & Sons (HK).
http://www.regalhotel.com
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Letters to the Editor
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6
our website. All of this is not easy in a climate
of fiscal prudence (and a climate of typhoons and other
disruptors); however it is something we need to do and are working
on it as a matter of priority.
Steve Rackstraw, Head of Mem-ber Services, replies: The Marco
Polo Club Service Centre is work-ing hard to maintain service
levels, but our hotlines can be very busy during peak hours of 10am
to 4pm, Hong Kong time. Outside those times, members should not
have to wait very long, if at all, for their call to be answered.
Alternatively, mem-bers could contact us via email.
Outdated browsers We keep hearing about the considerable
investment the company is making in IT. Can we ask IMT when will
the company update the internet browser from the current IE8 that
we use?
It is becoming increasingly frustrating to be told when
accessing various websites for company-related activities that our
browser does not support the site.
Frustrated outport staff
Mark Griffith, Head of Infrastructure & Operations, replies:
As part of the Infrastructure
I would love to see a proper barista-manned coffee stall or an
unpopular food store replaced with a new idea.
I propose that the space be run like any other food court, with
independent year-long leases for each stall.
Matthew Culver, IMT
Irene Ip, Manager Property & Services, replies: Thanks for
your feedback and for the opportunity to explain why the staff
canteen is run the way it is.
The main objective for our staff canteen is to provide safe,
reliable, healthy and appetising catering at a reasonable cost for
colleagues.
The CX City canteen began with six catering operators on site,
but staff feedback was unfavourable.
While popular food stalls were unable to cope with the huge
amount of orders during peak hours, other entities couldn’t survive
due to lower popularity
Missed connectionsIt would seem these days that our telephone
system has become ever more difficult to use from a custom-er point
of view.
Recently I tried to amend an ex-isting revenue booking. This
could not be done online so I needed to call our Reservations
hotline. I was quite surprised that it took around 20 minutes on
hold to actually get through to speak to someone.
This morning, for a different booking, I have twice tried to
call the Marco Polo Club; both times the call has been directed to
voice mail, with the request to leave my details for someone to
call me back. I’m still waiting.
I know from friends in Hong Kong that they find this extremely
frus-trating. Surely if we provide such a service to our customers
it should be an efficient, professional and of course a pleasant
experience.
Flight crew
Simon Kriss, Manager Global Contact Centre replies: Your view of
our reservations line is very ac-curate and certainly echoed by
cus-tomers across social media. There is a twin path approach to
fixing this and we are working on both.
First is to get our Global Contact Centre running more
efficiently, ef-fectively and with the right staffing level, and
the second is to continu-ously enhance the functionality on
2020 programme, IMT will be upgrading the current desktop from
Windows XP to Windows 8.1, which includes the latest internet
browser (IE11).
A pilot will commence by the end of the year and the full scale
rollout will be in 2015.
Stay tuned for more information on this in the coming months. If
you have an immediate problem in
using the current browser version, please contact
the Service Centre for a temporary solution.
Open competition I dislike the lack of choice and quality that
our current “one stop shop” policy provides and was wondering if we
could open up the CX City food court for independent
competition.
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London-based Inflight Services Manager Josephine Rafudi wrote to
thank a frequent flyer for coming to a sick passenger’s rescue.
“CX World often publishes stories on how CX staff helped our
passengers in challenging situations. Very often, our passengers
write complimentary letters to express their appreciation too,”
says Josephine, pictured below.
“This time I’d like to turn things around by thanking a
passenger on flight CX238 from London to Hong Kong on 20
September,” she smiles.
A sick passenger’s condition deteriorated when the flight was
still four hours away from Hong Kong.
“We tried our best to treat the passenger by contacting Medlink
and followed the instructions given,” Josephine recalls.
“We applied the first aid knowledge that we learned from
training school. However, when it came to injection and IV drips,
we needed a medical professional to help us.
“On this flight, we were very fortunate to have a professor of
medicine who agreed to help when we approached him,” she says.
“He was our hero and we were all very grateful for his kind
assistance and support up till the aircraft landed in Hong
Kong.”
The sick passenger was finally handed over to the medical team
on the ground.
“This passenger is also one of our most valued customers who
celebrated his one-millionth mile with us on that flight. A truly
loyal customer!” says Josephine.
Will CX consider to change its stand-by counters from landside
to individual boarding gates? I used to be a ground staff and know
that many flights offload no-show passengers. Switching the standby
counter to the boarding gate allows us to give those empty seats to
ID passengers.
Perhaps this measure can apply to ID travel-lers without
check-in baggage; while those with check-in luggage can use standby
baggage tags.
Cabin crew
Star Letter prizeThe winner of the CX World Star Letter scores a
bottle of Murray Street White Label Barossa Shiraz 2008.
This Barossa Shiraz won the Gold Medal for Best Business Class
Red Wine at the 2013 Cellar in the Sky Awards.
The fruits of this wine are sourced from nine differently
managed blocks from a variety of fantastic vineyards, giving the
wine great complexity.
On the palate, cherries and plums tantalise, supported by
chocolate and coffee nuances. This is an elegantly structured wine
with generous weight and length.
ISD will be offering a bottle of wine from CX’s Business Class
selection every month for the Star Letter winner, so watch this
space!
Russ Fortson, Manager Customer Services & Product
Development – Airports replies: Airports’ view is “Yes”! We want
this too, and are working to make this happen wherever it is
per-missible by local authorities after the cutover to Altéa
Customer Management (CM).
Many airlines around the world already process staff standby
passengers in this manner and it is proven to be the optimal
approach to maximise the utilisation of available seats.
However, it is impor-tant to note that in many airports,
including Hong Kong, this will not be pos-sible in the short term
because of restrictions im-posed by the respective local
authorities.
Fortunately, with the move to CM, we will have the technical
capability to effectively facilitate staff standby clearance at the
boarding gate, which is the first step.
Location, location, location
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Letters to the Editor
7
and poorer quality.Survey results indicated that
the diversified operation was not suitable and effective for a
staff canteen. CX management then made the decision to appoint a
reputable and reliable caterer as a single-source operator.
Our objective – then and now – is to ensure that the canteen is
able to cope with scale of the operation, while being able to
uniformly respond to calls for improvement in quality and
variety.
The operator also has to be reliable, resourceful, flexible and
focused on hygiene and safety.
Furthermore, the kitchen’s infrastructure is built with a staff
canteen model in mind, instead of multiple commercial food
stores.
Regular meetings with the operator have been conducted to
address operational issues, staff expectations, complaints,
varieties, as well as staff feedback and suggestions. We will keep
on reviewing and exploring suitable varieties as suitable.
We currently have three operators serving coffee at Cathay
City.
When their lease is about to end, competitive tenders will be
processed.
Messy email footers I’ve noticed that there is a huge range of
styles for email footers sent out by our staff. Different fonts,
different formats, even different colours – it all looks very messy
and doesn’t really project a professional image either externally
or internally.
Is it possible for IMT to develop a system that automatically
generates an email footer with all the key details – name, title,
contact numbers, company logo – included in a standardised format
for emails going outside the company?
At the same time can they ensure staff take the Henry Ford
approach to font colours in emails – any colour as long as it’s
black!
CCD staff
Dennis Owen, Manager Brand, re-plies: I’m glad you asked that
ques-tion. Bringing about email footer consistency in style and
colour is definitely on the list to be fixed from a brand
perspective. There will be one unified format coming out in the
next few weeks, so please stay tuned for details.
KA breaks records this summer
KA Flight Attendant Leona Tam’s love of water sports reached a
whole new level when she took up scuba diving last year.
Already an avid fan of canoeing and wakeboarding, Leona fell for
scuba
diving in a big way when she did a discovery course in Cairns
last year.
“The underwater beauty of the Great Barrier Reef simply blew me
away!” says Leona.
Over time, she also learnt to enjoy the tranquillity of the
world below the
waves. “It is colourful yet silent – all you hear is
the sound of your own breathing,” she says. “Despite the
silence, divers from different
places of the world are able to communicate with each other in
the universal ‘divers sign language’ that removes all language
barriers – that’s another beautiful aspect of scuba diving.”
The passionate diver has visited popular dive sites in Phuket
and the Philippines, but her favourite is the lesser-known Liuqiu
Island in Taiwan.
“The waters surrounding Liuqiu Island are rife with sea
creatures such as sea turtles. It is a potent reminder that human
beings have a responsibility to protect our planet,” says
Leona.
The life aquatic
Dragonair broke a number of records this sum-mer peak, including
new highs for net revenue, load factor and passenger numbers in
August.
“In August, Dragonair achieved its highest passenger traffic and
capacity since the integra-tion with CX, and the average monthly
load fac-
tor hit 79% – the highest we’ve seen so far this year,” says
Patricia
Hwang, General Manager Revenue Manage-ment. “The passenger
number reached 845,000, which was also a new monthly record.”
Thailand and Taiwan were the most in-de-mand destinations for KA
passengers this summer.
“Phuket and Taichung were the most popular, while Jeju, Chengdu,
Kunming, Haikou and Wenzhou also enjoyed
good loads,” says Patricia. Denpasar, which came online in
April, saw the
load factor gradually improving from 50% in April to 71% in
August.
Looking ahead, three more weekly flights will be added to Siem
Reap in the winter schedule, taking it to a daily service.
Two more weekly Phnom Penh flights will be added to the existing
10 starting January 2015.
http://www.cxholidays.com/staffoffers
-
Cathay Paci�c 2014 Alignment and Engagement Survey
Some questions from the seven alignment categories with
responses from the top two “agree” levels2014 responses are
generally positive but trending downward compared to 2011
Long-term directionAre the Company’s overall
strategies clearly explained to employees?
33%
23%
9%5% 5%
2%
24%
Senior leadershipHow well do senior leaders
inspire the best performance from employees?
Team leadership Are managers trustworthy? Do they build teamwork
and
care for their employees?
Team effectivenessDo teams achieve goals,
deliver service quality and improve productivity?
Performance focusDo we respond to new ideas and
changing customer needs? Are we outwardly focused?
Investment in peopleDo we attract, retain and develop the right
people to remain successful ?
Investment in systemsDo our systems and their supporting teams
allow
employees to do their job well?
29%
24%
10%
6%
3%
5%
22%
26%
20%
8%5%
4%
11%
28%
30%
20%
8%5%
3%
7%
28%
32%
23%
8%
4%2%
6%
26%
5%
26% 24%
14%
10%6%
4%
17%
29% 22%
15%
10%
3%
16%
3,318Hong Kong
ground staffHong Kong
ground staff
Hong Kong & Outports, 2011 vs 2014 result comparison
ALIGNMENT MESSAGE FROM THE DIRECTOR
Nick Rhodes
We asked what was the most important issue the current
leadership team should address in 2014-15. Out of 3,000 + comments
you mostly talked about...1. Desire for more access to training and
development2. Concern over promotion and retention of skilled
employees3. Ineffective reward and recognition practices4. Need to
improve internal communication and increase
transparency in decision making5. Misalignment between resources
and workload6. A need to focus on revenue management and
revenue
generation as well as cost management7. Better visibility of
reasons for investment in
IT systems
29% 46% 27% 43% 38% 50% 35% 50%
29% 44%
32% 47% 20% 33% 19% 38%
3,318 Hong Kong ground staff responded to our seven Alignment
categories. Figures in pie charts are from Hong Kong ground staff
only.
ENGAGEMENT
Proud to be working for the company
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70CX KA Total : 55%
Job satisfaction
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70CX KA Total : 44%
Sense of belonging
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70CX KA Total : 42%
Willing to do extra work to help succeedCX KA Total : 48%
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Number of respondents
The results indicate how committed employees are to the
organisation, promoting
Number % strongly agree
and acting in its best interests. The engagement survey was open
to all staff.
Comparison of 2014 alignment scores from HK and
outports.Percentage scores by category for top two boxes (scores 6
& 7)
StronglyDisagree
Stronglyagree
Hong Kong 41% Outport 56%
Engagement
1020304050607080
7080
102030405060
73%60%
47% 41% 32%
77% 80% 74%63%
51%
Leve
l E +
Leve
l D
Leve
l C
Leve
l B
Leve
l A
Leve
l E +
Leve
l D
Leve
l C
Leve
l B
Leve
l A
Hong Kong 29% Outport 44%
Alignment
102030405060
102030405060
50%40% 33% 30% 23%
58% 62% 59%48% 40%
Leve
l E +
Leve
l D
Leve
l C
Leve
l B
Leve
l A
Leve
l E +
Leve
l D
Leve
l C
Leve
l B
Leve
l A
7080
7080
The percentages show the number of staff who strongly agree
(scores 6 & 7).
Alignment is generally positive. but trending downward compared
to 2011.
In general, the higher the staff level, the greater the sense of
alignment and engagement.
Outport alignment by regionsPercentage who chose the top two
“agree” levels
Some Alignment questions (Hong Kong ground staff)
View challenges as learning experiences
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Results by levels of staff
6,931 ground staff completed the full survey by giving a score
for both Alignment and Engagement. A further 7,887 frontline staff
answered the 20 Engagement questions.
CX Outports Ground Staff
Hong Kong Ground Staff KA Outports Ground StaffCXKA Hong Kong
Ground StaffCX HKIA CSOs CX Cabin Crew KA Cabin Crew CX Flight Crew
KA Flight Crew
43%China
651 staff38%Europe406 staff
31%Japan
293 staff
49%North America
388 staff
64%South Asia, Middle East
& Africa514 staff
44%South East Asia
512 staff
45%South West Paci�c
213 staff
36%Taiwan & Korea
636 staff
Hong Kong ground staff Outport ground staff
Long term directionI understand how my role contributes to the
organisation’s long term goals and strategies
%
%
%
2014201158%
%
%
Performance focusOur products and services successfully
differentiate us from our competitors or peers
2014201158Investment in peopleThe organisation has effective
plans for developing and retaining its people
2014201121%%
Team leadershipThe person I report to builds teamwork
2014201154
Alignment
0 10 20 30 40 50
49%29%
58%
44%
Hong Kong ground staff - 2011
Hong Kong ground staff - 2014
Outport ground staff - 2011
Outport ground staff - 2014
2,981632
3,103153
1,3284,055
6951,621
188
58%44%40%49%30%53%29%24%31%
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
I’d like to thank everyone who took part in the 2014 Alignment
and Engagement Survey.
Out of the 76 core questions, 56 measure Alignment, de�ned as
the extent to which systems, processes and an employee’s KRAs are
consistent with the company’s overall aims.
The remaining 20 relate to Engagement, a measure of an
employee’s emotional commit-ment to the company, enthusiasm for
their work and willingness to go the extra mile.
The responses are generally positive: most people are proud to
be working for the company and keen to make the business
successful. The senior management in Hong Kong and almost all
outport staff appear highly aligned and engaged.
However, responses from Head Of�ce employees at Levels A to C,
while still positive, are lower compared to 2011. Many �nd it
harder to understand how their own roles support the corporate
strategy. They also seem to feel less well-recognised for their
efforts and are less clear about their career development
prospects.
The 2014 survey shows a signi�cant number of issues that need to
be addressed. These include better communication of company
strategy and regular progress reports; better communication of the
IT strategy and why it is necessary to spend on modern
infrastructure and new systems; and �nally, how to recognise,
reward and retain high-performing staff.
The infographic on these pages is a general snapshot of the 2014
survey. I encourage all staff to log on to IntraCX (see under Zone
Hightlights) for a more comprehensive set of data.
CX
Out
port
s G
roun
d St
a�
73%
KA
Out
port
s G
roun
d St
a�
54%
CX
Hon
g Ko
ng G
roun
d St
a�
55%
KA
Hon
g Ko
ng G
roun
d St
a�
67%
CX
HKI
A C
SOs
37%
CX
Cabi
n Cr
ew
63%
KA
Cabi
n Cr
ew
33%
CX
Flig
ht C
rew
30%
KA
Flig
ht C
rew
40%
CX
Out
port
s G
roun
d St
a�
63%
CX
HKG
Gro
und
Sta�
41%
CX
HKI
A C
SOs
25%
CX
Cabi
n Cr
ew
47%
CX
Flig
ht C
rew
CX
Flig
ht C
rew
12%
KA
Flig
ht C
rew
27%
KA
Out
port
s G
roun
d St
a�
43%
KA
Hon
g Ko
ng G
roun
d St
a�
54%
KA
Cabi
n Cr
ew
27%
CX
Out
port
s G
roun
d St
a�
55%
KA
Out
ports
Gro
und
Sta�
39%
CX
HKG
Grou
nd St
a�
39%
KA
HKG
Gro
und
Sta�
47%
CX
HKI
A C
SOs
30%
CX
Cabi
n Cr
ew
58%
KA
Cabi
n Cr
ew
31%22%
KA
Flig
ht C
rew
31%
CX
Out
port
s G
roun
d St
a�
65%
KA
Out
port
s G
roun
d St
a�
63%
CX
HKG
Gro
und
Sta�
48%
KA
Hon
g Ko
ng G
roun
d St
a�
52%
CX
HKI
A C
SOs
38%
CX
Cabi
n Cr
ew
69%
KA
Cabi
n Cr
ew
40%
CX
Flig
ht C
rew
43%
KA
Flig
ht C
rew
38%
69%
53%
34%
48%
19%
52%
66%
29% 32%
CX
Out
port
s G
roun
d St
a�
KA
Out
port
s G
roun
d St
a�
CX
Hon
g Ko
ng G
roun
d St
a�
KA
Hon
g Ko
ng G
roun
d St
a�
CX
HKI
A C
SOs
CX
Cabi
n Cr
ew
KA
Cabi
n Cr
ew
CX
Flig
ht C
rew
KA
Flig
ht C
rew
CX KA Total : 56%
-
Cathay Paci�c 2014 Alignment and Engagement Survey
Some questions from the seven alignment categories with
responses from the top two “agree” levels2014 responses are
generally positive but trending downward compared to 2011
Long-term directionAre the Company’s overall
strategies clearly explained to employees?
33%
23%
9%5% 5%
2%
24%
Senior leadershipHow well do senior leaders
inspire the best performance from employees?
Team leadership Are managers trustworthy? Do they build teamwork
and
care for their employees?
Team effectivenessDo teams achieve goals,
deliver service quality and improve productivity?
Performance focusDo we respond to new ideas and
changing customer needs? Are we outwardly focused?
Investment in peopleDo we attract, retain and develop the right
people to remain successful ?
Investment in systemsDo our systems and their supporting teams
allow
employees to do their job well?
29%
24%
10%
6%
3%
5%
22%
26%
20%
8%5%
4%
11%
28%
30%
20%
8%5%
3%
7%
28%
32%
23%
8%
4%2%
6%
26%
5%
26% 24%
14%
10%6%
4%
17%
29% 22%
15%
10%
3%
16%
3,318Hong Kong
ground staffHong Kong
ground staff
Hong Kong & Outports, 2011 vs 2014 result comparison
ALIGNMENT MESSAGE FROM THE DIRECTOR
Nick Rhodes
We asked what was the most important issue the current
leadership team should address in 2014-15. Out of 3,000 + comments
you mostly talked about...1. Desire for more access to training and
development2. Concern over promotion and retention of skilled
employees3. Ineffective reward and recognition practices4. Need to
improve internal communication and increase
transparency in decision making5. Misalignment between resources
and workload6. A need to focus on revenue management and
revenue
generation as well as cost management7. Better visibility of
reasons for investment in
IT systems
29% 46% 27% 43% 38% 50% 35% 50%
29% 44%
32% 47% 20% 33% 19% 38%
3,318 Hong Kong ground staff responded to our seven Alignment
categories. Figures in pie charts are from Hong Kong ground staff
only.
ENGAGEMENT
Proud to be working for the company
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70CX KA Total : 55%
Job satisfaction
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70CX KA Total : 44%
Sense of belonging
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70CX KA Total : 42%
Willing to do extra work to help succeedCX KA Total : 48%
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Number of respondents
The results indicate how committed employees are to the
organisation, promoting
Number % strongly agree
and acting in its best interests. The engagement survey was open
to all staff.
Comparison of 2014 alignment scores from HK and
outports.Percentage scores by category for top two boxes (scores 6
& 7)
StronglyDisagree
Stronglyagree
Hong Kong 41% Outport 56%
Engagement
1020304050607080
7080
102030405060
73%60%
47% 41% 32%
77% 80% 74%63%
51%
Leve
l E +
Leve
l D
Leve
l C
Leve
l B
Leve
l A
Leve
l E +
Leve
l D
Leve
l C
Leve
l B
Leve
l A
Hong Kong 29% Outport 44%
Alignment
102030405060
102030405060
50%40% 33% 30% 23%
58% 62% 59%48% 40%
Leve
l E +
Leve
l D
Leve
l C
Leve
l B
Leve
l A
Leve
l E +
Leve
l D
Leve
l C
Leve
l B
Leve
l A
7080
7080
The percentages show the number of staff who strongly agree
(scores 6 & 7).
Alignment is generally positive. but trending downward compared
to 2011.
In general, the higher the staff level, the greater the sense of
alignment and engagement.
Outport alignment by regionsPercentage who chose the top two
“agree” levels
Some Alignment questions (Hong Kong ground staff)
View challenges as learning experiences
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Results by levels of staff
6,931 ground staff completed the full survey by giving a score
for both Alignment and Engagement. A further 7,887 frontline staff
answered the 20 Engagement questions.
CX Outports Ground Staff
Hong Kong Ground Staff KA Outports Ground StaffCXKA Hong Kong
Ground StaffCX HKIA CSOs CX Cabin Crew KA Cabin Crew CX Flight Crew
KA Flight Crew
43%China
651 staff38%Europe406 staff
31%Japan
293 staff
49%North America
388 staff
64%South Asia, Middle East
& Africa514 staff
44%South East Asia
512 staff
45%South West Paci�c
213 staff
36%Taiwan & Korea
636 staff
Hong Kong ground staff Outport ground staff
Long term directionI understand how my role contributes to the
organisation’s long term goals and strategies
%
%
%
2014201158%
%
%
Performance focusOur products and services successfully
differentiate us from our competitors or peers
2014201158Investment in peopleThe organisation has effective
plans for developing and retaining its people
2014201121%%
Team leadershipThe person I report to builds teamwork
2014201154
Alignment
0 10 20 30 40 50
49%29%
58%
44%
Hong Kong ground staff - 2011
Hong Kong ground staff - 2014
Outport ground staff - 2011
Outport ground staff - 2014
2,981632
3,103153
1,3284,055
6951,621
188
58%44%40%49%30%53%29%24%31%
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
I’d like to thank everyone who took part in the 2014 Alignment
and Engagement Survey.
Out of the 76 core questions, 56 measure Alignment, de�ned as
the extent to which systems, processes and an employee’s KRAs are
consistent with the company’s overall aims.
The remaining 20 relate to Engagement, a measure of an
employee’s emotional commit-ment to the company, enthusiasm for
their work and willingness to go the extra mile.
The responses are generally positive: most people are proud to
be working for the company and keen to make the business
successful. The senior management in Hong Kong and almost all
outport staff appear highly aligned and engaged.
However, responses from Head Of�ce employees at Levels A to C,
while still positive, are lower compared to 2011. Many �nd it
harder to understand how their own roles support the corporate
strategy. They also seem to feel less well-recognised for their
efforts and are less clear about their career development
prospects.
The 2014 survey shows a signi�cant number of issues that need to
be addressed. These include better communication of company
strategy and regular progress reports; better communication of the
IT strategy and why it is necessary to spend on modern
infrastructure and new systems; and �nally, how to recognise,
reward and retain high-performing staff.
The infographic on these pages is a general snapshot of the 2014
survey. I encourage all staff to log on to IntraCX (see under Zone
Hightlights) for a more comprehensive set of data.
CX
Out
port
s G
roun
d St
a�
73%
KA
Out
port
s G
roun
d St
a�
54%
CX
Hon
g Ko
ng G
roun
d St
a�
55%
KA
Hon
g Ko
ng G
roun
d St
a�
67%
CX
HKI
A C
SOs
37%
CX
Cabi
n Cr
ew
63%
KA
Cabi
n Cr
ew
33%
CX
Flig
ht C
rew
30%
KA
Flig
ht C
rew
40%
CX
Out
port
s G
roun
d St
a�
63%
CX
HKG
Gro
und
Sta�
41%
CX
HKI
A C
SOs
25%
CX
Cabi
n Cr
ew
47%
CX
Flig
ht C
rew
CX
Flig
ht C
rew
12%
KA
Flig
ht C
rew
27%
KA
Out
port
s G
roun
d St
a�
43%
KA
Hon
g Ko
ng G
roun
d St
a�
54%
KA
Cabi
n Cr
ew
27%
CX
Out
port
s G
roun
d St
a�
55%
KA
Out
ports
Gro
und
Sta�
39%
CX
HKG
Grou
nd St
a�
39%
KA
HKG
Gro
und
Sta�
47%
CX
HKI
A C
SOs
30%
CX
Cabi
n Cr
ew
58%KA
Ca
bin
Crew
31%22%
KA
Flig
ht C
rew
31%
CX
Out
port
s G
roun
d St
a�
65%
KA
Out
port
s G
roun
d St
a�
63%
CX
HKG
Gro
und
Sta�
48%
KA
Hon
g Ko
ng G
roun
d St
a�
52%
CX
HKI
A C
SOs
38%
CX
Cabi
n Cr
ew
69%
KA
Cabi
n Cr
ew
40%
CX
Flig
ht C
rew
43%
KA
Flig
ht C
rew
38%
69%
53%
34%
48%
19%
52%
66%
29% 32%
CX
Out
port
s G
roun
d St
a�
KA
Out
port
s G
roun
d St
a�
CX
Hon
g Ko
ng G
roun
d St
a�
KA
Hon
g Ko
ng G
roun
d St
a�
CX
HKI
A C
SOs
CX
Cabi
n Cr
ew
KA
Cabi
n Cr
ew
CX
Flig
ht C
rew
KA
Flig
ht C
rew
CX KA Total : 56%
-
10
Pioneer in airfreight container management
Manila on the move
The Cathay Pacific Group is the first Asia-based airline to
appoint an in-dependent vendor for the supply and management of
unit load de-vices (ULDs), including containers and cargo
pallets.
Under a five-year agreement se-cured last month with leading
pro-vider CHEP Aerospace Solutions, 25,000 ULDs from CX and KA will
be
outsourced to the Australia-based supplier.
In return, CHEP will convert older containers weighing up to
140kg to modern, composite containers that only weigh 56kg. It will
also ensure a sufficient supply of lightweight, dedicated
containers to sustain car-go operations smoothly every day across
the network.
This solution, tailor-made for CX, was the result of a thorough
review.
The lighter container fleet will re-duce overall aircraft
weight, thereby improving operational and fuel ef-ficiency, which
is in line with the Group’s commitment to sustainable development,
according to Karen Wan, Cargo Services Manager – Standards &
Procedure.
Smooth and steady progress
After months of intensive preparation, Altéa Customer Management
(CM) was used for the first time to conduct check-in, boarding and
flight control for flights departing Hong Kong.
On 23 September, 10 Dragonair flights successfully departed to
Dhaka, Kathmandu and Shanghai Pudong using the new check-in
system.
It was a great collective team effort, particularly from the Hub
Operations, PSS, Dragonair teams, with the support of Hong Kong
Airport Services (HAS) and Hong Kong Airport Authority.
From 16 October, all KA flights will depart from Hong Kong using
CM as the departure control system.
General Manager HKIA Liza Ng highlighted the importance of the
Dragonair implementation as a learning experience.
“KA is an integral part of the overall HKIA operation. After the
latest Dragonair implementation, the focus for the team will be
moving more than 100 daily CX departures to CM,” Liza says.
“Staff experience and feedback during CM implementation for KA
flights in Hong Kong will definitely be useful to ensure a smooth
transition for CX flights in November.”
More than 40 ports are now using CM around the network since it
was first introduced in June.
Staff are quickly adjusting to the system, with the
implementation having little impact on day-to-day operations.
CM will be implemented in Hong Kong in phases for CX flights
from 13 November.
By 28 November, all Hong Kong operations will be managed using
the new system.
CX operations move to NAIA’s Terminal 3 after 12 years of
planning
Before the agreement, the Group is operating with a combination
of old and new containers.
The containers, which will have CX and CHEP co-branding, will
en-sure that the quality standards are not compromised, says
Karen.
At the same time, CX will also adopt a ‘pooling’ concept to
fulfill global cargo pallet requirements.
“The cross-utilisation of pallet as-sets with CHEP’s
existing airline cus-tomers will provide synergy benefits to our
operations,” Karen says.
The transition of the ULDs will take place progressively from
March 2015.
CHEP will take care of the main-tenance and repair of the ULDs,
as well as the daunting task of inven-tory control through
monitoring cargo and passenger demand as well as ULD stock levels
in each outport.
It was a long time coming, but on 30 September Cathay Pacific’s
operations at Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) finally
moved from Terminal 1 to Terminal 3.
T3, which is a far more modern termi-nal than T1, was
constructed 10 years ago, but the major airlines have only recently
moved in, including Delta Air Lines, Singapore Airlines, Emirates,
and KLM.
“The move to T3 has been in the pipe-line for many years – 12 in
fact. Five dif-ferent Country Managers have passed through before
it finally took place!” says current Country Manager Philippines
Alan Lui. “A great deal of effort was re-quired to amend and
sometimes rewrite plans in order to finally secure the per-mission
to move.”
Passenger benefits are immediately obvious.
There are much-improved food and beverage offerings at T3 which,
along with more comfortable seating and more pleasant resting
areas, will make passenger’s stay a more relaxing one.
On a practical level, T3 is situated directly next to the Skyway
– the high-speed motorway linking the airport to Metro Manila – and
passengers will find their journey time to the city centre cut
by half as a result. There’s also a new dedicated lounge at
T3 to look forward to next year. The 650 square-metre space will
fol-
low the specifications of the new gen-eration of CX lounges,
which means a main lounge with Solus chairs, an office area, as
well as two food and beverage offerings.
The move to T3 has also been wel-comed by the frontline
teams.
As part of the move, the Engineering and Airport Services teams
were relocat-ed to new offices. “The existing offices in T1 were
long overdue for renovation due to the move being pushed back
suc-cessively over the years,” says Alan.
He notes that the new facilities are a huge improvement and
offer a far more pleasant working and relaxation envi-ronment for
frontline colleagues.
“The Airport office is located within a two-minute walk from the
check-in desks while the Engineering office is directly next to one
of our designated boarding gates, so it’s a huge improve-ment in
terms of convenience,” says Alan.
For now, Dragonair will continue to operate its flights from T1
until it has clearance to move to T3, along with sev-eral other
airlines due to move there in the next batch.
Goodbye, Ed!The transfer to Terminal 3 coincided with the last
official working day for Ed Monreal, Manila’s beloved Airport
Services Manager.
Ed Monreal joined CX on 10 September 1982, having been recruited
by current Director People Nick Rhodes.
Ed’s career in the CX Philippines team was varied, taking him
from the Airport Services team to the Cargo team in Manila before
moving to Cebu 10 years later in 1992 to set up and open CX’s new
operations there.
Following that, he managed the Sales and Services team in the
Southern Philippines before returning to Manila in 1995 and
becoming Airport Services Manager in July 1996.
He was an integral part of the Philippines team; a great source
of knowledge and support to many Country Managers, and a loyal and
hard-working colleague who over the years cemented his reputation
as the “No. 1 typhoon guru in all Southeast Asia”!
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11
Obituary – Peter LuiColleagues in CX and Cathay Pacific Services
Ltd were saddened to hear of the sudden death of Peter Lui, who
passed away at his home in Sydney on 2 September.
Peter joined CPSL as MHS Consultant in 2007 and became Head of
Engineering & IT in May 2010.
He retired from his last position as Technical Advisor in March
2014.
He made significant contributions in managing the design and
implementation of the Materials
Handling System and the setting up the sophisticated IT
infrastructure at the Cathay Pacific Cargo Terminal.
CPSL Chief Executive Officer Kelvin Ko said: “As one of the core
members of the management team, Peter was crucial in managing the
readiness of the cargo terminal to go live. He was regarded as a
great working partner and inspiring leader and he will be dearly
missed for his kindness, humility, wit
and tremendous contribution.”
Supporting the wine tradeHeavy presence at Hong Kong wine
competition as hub status grows
Cathay Pacific serves around 1.7 million bot-tles of wine to
passengers ever year, so spon-soring the Hong Kong International
Wine & Spirit Competition seems like a natural fit.
This is CX’s sixth year of being the title spon-sor of the
event, which involves sponsoring air tickets for panel judges to
come to Hong Kong.
The Hong Kong wine competition runs in partnership with the
London-based Interna-tional Wine & Spirit Competition, which
has been running for 45 years.
The Hong Kong event has been created specifically for the Asian
market.
On the judging panel is CX’s Manager Glob-al Contact Centres
Simon Kriss, who is cur-rently completing his dissertation to
receive a Masters of Viticulture and Oenology through the
University of Melbourne.
Winners of the competition will be an-nounced on 6 November at
the International Wine and Spirits Fair hosted by the Hong Kong
Trade and Development Council.
“At Cathay Pacific, we put a lot of effort into selecting the
right wines for our flights, re-flecting the staggering growth of
interest in
wine and spirits in Hong Kong and the Asia Pacific region,” says
Marketing Manager – Events & Promotions Catherine Chan.
“Hong Kong is fast becoming one of the world’s most important
wine hubs. Our home city is now a key centre for wine auctions and
trading, tapping into the enormous potential of the Mainland China
market,” she adds.
Visit www.hkiwsc.com to find out more about the competition.
For more about Simon’s wine journey, stay tuned for the November
issue of CX World.
http://www.apartmento.hkhttp://www.facebook.com/shutalk
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12
IND
IAJA
PAN
Hirano Logistics, a long-time ground transportation partner for
the Japan Cargo team, displayed a massive photo of Cathay Pacific’s
Dash 8 freighter on one of its 10-tonne trailers.
The trailer, which was specially designed to hold three
freighter pallets, runs on major roads and highways mainly between
Tokyo and Osaka to provide ground transportation for CX’s freighter
services in the two cities.
CX currently operates a total of 13 weekly freighters to Japan –
five to Kansai and eight to Narita along with 17 weekly services by
Air Hong Kong (five to Nagoya, six to Kansai and six to
Narita).
The photo was snapped when the roving “billboard” stopped by the
Tokyo Town Office on 6 August. In the frame are Cargo Manager Japan
Shuichi Ueba (left) and Hirano Logistics’ Kenichi Mashiko.
India does goodMumbai’s FunCX team organised a “tuck shop” event
on 14 August to raise money for their CSR activities.
Staff prepared 21 homemade items, including fresh juices,
snacks, mini meals and desserts. Some items were sold out
even before the programme began!
The money raised amounted to 20,180INR, which will be matched by
the company. Thanks to staff’s enthusiasm and passion, the event
turned out to be a huge success, motivating FunCX to hopefully
organise another one soon.
And in Hyderabad, the local team visited Manchikalalu
Organisation, a home for needy children, on 5 August.
The centre offers shelter, food, education and medical care for
boys until they are able to work.
Apart from sponsoring uniforms for the children, the CX team
also put together sets of stationery and supplies – packed in
inflight amenity kits – for everyone. In return, the kids staged a
song-and-dance performance.
Momentum builds for Sri Lanka team
Anticipation is building among the Sri Lankan team ahead of the
launch of direct passenger services from Colombo to Hong Kong on 27
October.
The four new weekly flights will replace the current flights
stopping over at Singapore. The three tagged flights stopping over
Bangkok will remain unchanged.
“Because of our tagged flights, the majority of our passengers
are destined for Bangkok and Singapore,” says Anna Choi, Country
Manager Sri Lanka & Maldives. “The non-stop service has huge
potential for us, as it offers better timing to Hong Kong and
seamless connections to Asia, Australia and the USA.”
Anna says Colombo offers a good passenger mix spanning the
leisure and business segments. The team expects the direct flights
to carry more sixth-freedom traffic with higher yields.
The Colombo route has done consistently well over the past year.
Passenger revenue grew by 31.1% year-on-year between January and
August, which exceeded target by 18.7%.
Now that the flying time to Hong Kong is shortened, the team
expects leisure traffic from Sri Lanka to grow.
“This segment traditionally views Hong Kong as faraway and
expensive, and to change this perception, we’re working with travel
agents and tour operators on sales blitzes and promotional fares,”
Anna says.
Colombo’s cargo business is also enjoying healthy growth, mainly
supported by perishables such as tuna, grouper, crustaceans, tea
and plants.
The city is also a growing market for garment exports bound for
Europe and the States. The garment trade peaks between February and
April, as Sri Lanka produces lots of summer garments for
export.
Being the only Boeing 747F operator in Colombo, CX can uniquely
handle special cargo, such as dangerous goods, live animals, and
very heavy and long pieces.
“Colombo’s emerging economy is growing at the pace of 7% to 8%,
so we’re very positive about our cargo business here,” Anna
says.
SIN
GA
PORE
NEwS fOcuS
MOTIVATED: The CMB team picture at the press conference
announcing the non-stop service to Hong Kong.
Singapore cares The Singapore team got up early on two weekends
for worthy causes. On 7 June, 27 staff and family took part in the
government’s Plant-A-Tree Programme by planting nine trees, which
represents the nine daily flights between Singapore and Hong
Kong.
Planting the trees will help maintain the area’s biodiversity,
which ranges from
molecular bacteria to migratory birds. It also provides
simple
shelter, cools the tropical climate and purifies the polluted
air.
“We’ll definitely be back to check on our trees next
year,” says Marketing & Sales Manager Benjamin Khoo. “We
hope our saplings will stand against the elements!”
A month later, more than 30 staff and family participated in
Habitat for Humanity’s annual “Bare Your Sole” walkathon for the
sixth time.
This charity walk, which requires participants to walk barefoot,
supports less-privileged communities. Though slightly uncomfortable
at times, employees had a blast bonding while doing charity
work.
“Cathay Pacific has always been a proud supporter of Bare Your
Sole, and this year is no exception!” says General Manager
Southeast Asia Wilson Yam.
Dash 8 hits the ground in Japan
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AM
STER
DA
M
Amsterdam caterer comes on top ISD Catering presented their
annual “Best Caterer – Hygiene Award 2013” to Gate Gourmet
Amsterdam at a presentation at their inflight catering
facility on 14 August.
The award was presented by CX’s Regional Catering Manager
Europe/ Middle East Antony Edwards to Gate Gourmet
Amsterdan’s Sam Schneeberger and Srinath Balakrishnan.
Gate Gourmet Amsterdam emerged as the winner after
ISD’s rigorous assessments of all its 52 caterers. The award
is only given to those attaining the highest level of hygiene
integrity and compliance to service standards.
Philippines parties in style It was a night to remember when the
Philippines team held a “Hail & Farewell” party in honour of
former Country Manager Martin Xu and his successor Alan Lui at the
Manila Polo Club.
To spice things up, guests were asked to bring their event
invitation – styled as a boarding pass – for a raffle.
Everyone enjoyed delicious cocktails in a mock “pre-boarding
area” as staff performed a flash mob dance in uniform.
Martin’s going-away gift was a photo collage featuring the best
memories during his tenure in the country. Alan, on the other hand,
was presented with a barong tagalog, which is traditionally worn by
Filipino men during formal occasions.
The region’s GM, Wilson Yam, who flew in especially for the
event, took the opportunity to announce CX’s Skytrax World’s Best
Airline win.
Italy rewards 115 accumulated years of serviceOn 11 September,
GM Europe Angus Barclay visited the Rome office to welcome new
Country Manager Erica Peng and to give out long-service pins to
(left photo, from left to right) Giusi Giuliani (25 years), Silvia
Tagliaferri (15 years), and Pina Bruno (25 years).
Angus’s visit was followed by an appearance by Director Sales
& Marketing Dane Cheng, who gave out two more service pins to
(right photo, from left to right) Valerio Berni (25 years) and
Gioia Pieri (25 years).
VIE
TNA
M
Customer Services Officer Ikleela Hameed has the enviable job of
being the only permanent CX staff stationed in the Maldives.
It’s a job that Ikleela says he’s proud and honoured to
hold.
“I absolutely love my job. I’ve always aspired to be in
aviation,” she says. “Airports are a place where you can meet
people from all around the world. And I love being able to watch
aircraft taking off and landing at such a close distance.”
Ikleela sees growing up in the Maldives as a mixed blessing.
“The Maldives is the archetypal island paradise, although as a
nation we face challenges as well,” she says. “Since we have
limited resources here, we have to rely heavily on foreign aid. In
five years we’ve moved from being a third world country to a
developing country, but there is still a long way to go.”
For the authentic Maldivian experience, Ikleela recommends
visiting during the Eid holidays, Indep-endence Day, or National
Day.
“These are the times when the whole country is out celebrating,
and visitors will be able to experience our indigenous customs and
performances,” she says.
Since working at CX, Ikleela has been grateful for the
opportunity to visit Hong Kong. “I find it such an exquisite city.
People are so friendly and helpful – just like my colleagues at
CX!”
Island girl
PoRT PEoPlE
nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn
DREAM JOB: Ikleela is the only permanent CX staff stationed in
the Maldives.
Colombo’s Accounts Assistant Sunali Anjula is an accomplished
linguist – she speaks to many Sri Lankan locals in Sinhala, her
mother tongue; talks to her Indian friends in flawless Hindi and
Tamil; uses English at work; and is now picking up Korean.
“My mum is half-Indian and many of my family members speak
Hindi. My passion for Hindi started when I was a small kid,” says
Sunali.
She learnt Tamil to chat with her Muslim friends, and is taking
up Korean under the influence of her sister, who’s also learning
the language from a Korean friend.
Speaking different languages gives her a competitive edge at
work, such as handling customers who only speak Tamil.
“I hope my language skills continue to be relevant as CX is such
an international company,” says Sunali.
But while she’s constantly fascinated by foreign languages, her
mother tongue of Sinhala is still closest to her heart.
“I love Sinhala best because I feel most comfortable speaking
it,” says Sunali.
“There are many unique and beautiful words in Sinhala, such as
swabawadharmaya (meaning environment) and saundaraya (arts).”
Natural linguist
PHIl
IPPI
NES
ITA
lY
On 27 August, representatives from the Vietnam team attended the
IATA Aviation Day in Hanoi.
The event was co-hosted by IATA and Vietnam Airlines and was
attended by senior government ministers, airline and
airline-related executives, and also external business
partners.
Two former CX staff opened and closed the day’s proceedings:
former CE Tony Tyler gave the opening address as Director General
& CEO for IATA, and Conrad Clifford, who worked for CX for six
years before leaving and is now IATA
old friends share same goals
Vice President for Asia Pacific. Overall, the event showcased
the
future development of aviation with particular focus on the Asia
Pacific region, as that is where the majority of growth will come
from in the next 20 years.
Over and above the predictions about massive growth in air
travel, improved technologies that will help both airlines and
passengers, and increasingly open skies, the overarching messages
delivered were as follows:
Firstly, safety is and always will be the
key priority in aviation, and particularly now in light of
recent events. A renewed focus must be adopted to ensure air travel
continues to be the safest from of transport.
Secondly, cooperation – many speakers highlighted the need for
governments, airports, airlines and other parties to actively work
together on developing aviation.
Focus was also placed on Vietnam’s aviation development, which
is growing at breakneck speed but faces significant challenges.
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Nick DealGeneral Manager People Development
Cooking up adoggy treat
Caption xx xxx xx xx xxxx xxx xxxxx xx xxx xx xx xxxx xxx xxxxx
xx xxx xx xx xxxx xxx xxxxx
Assistant Manager Airline Plan-ning Vivian Lee turns into a chef
and nutritionist when she gets home after work, preparing tasty
treats for three special friends.
“I prepare homemade food for my dogs, Whiskey, Noodle and Mini,
every day,” says Vivian. “Some years ago, Whiskey fell sick after
eating
dog snacks I bought from a pet shop. After that I wanted to
learn dog food recipes and cook for them myself.”
Vivian believes making canine cuisine at home is the best way to
keep her pets healthy and loyal.
“We can have better control over what our dogs eat
and make sure their food contains the essential nutrients they
need,” says Vivian. “Also, it’s a nice reward for your pets – they
will appreciate how well you treat them!”
Other dogs now have a chance to sample Vivian’s homemade treats
through her Doglicious enterprise.
“I set up Doglicious on Facebook so that customers could place
or-
ders for my products,” says Vivian.
Doglicious has featured green tea apple cookies,
cinnamon tuna biscuits, vegetable crackers and beet-
root flavoured snacks. “I have made birthday cakes for my
customers’ dogs, too!” Vivian grins.
The latest Doglicious prod-uct was moon cakes for dogs in
celebration of the Mid-Autumn Festival.
For those who want to make dog food themselves, Vivian ad-
vises you get to understand your dog’s preferences and check for
any allergies to specific ingredients.
“Let your dog try a small portion at first and see how it reacts
to the food – sometimes it takes quite a while for them to accept
new fla-vours or food combinations,” Vivian explains.
1. You’ve been at CX since 2011. What do you like most about it?
Hong Kong has been my home since 1992, so I’m a long-term CX
fan. I enjoy the diversity of the team and the friendly
cooperative vibe. Also that people are so proud of the
airline and want it to succeed. I see Cathay like my beloved
Liverpool FC – a class act but also an underdog up against some
ridiculously funded competi-tors. Yet we are still rated as the
best by the people that count – I love that!
2. What’s the main focus of the People Development team? I’m
lucky to have a highly talented and dedicated team that is focused
on leadership, team and communica-tion development courses – ones
that can apply to any function in CX. We’ve made progress and the
next step is to deliver more courses for team leaders at more
junior levels. The overall goal is to help the leadership build a
high performance culture. For me, that means people like their work
and
they like the people they work with – even their boss!
3. What’s the point of leadership courses? Can’t people just
learn from the internet? You can read it on the internet – but that
doesn’t mean you can do it! It’s all about who is there with you in
the group, who delivers the inspiration from the front of the room,
and the opportunity to “learn by doing” .
4. What’s your leadership philos-ophy and how does it relate to
the courses? It’s a marathon, not a sprint, to learn how to be a
consistently-liked,
respected and effective leader. I want people to leave our
courses feeling re-energised and in-spired. Anything less
isn’t good enough.
5. What’s the best part of your job? Happy customers - the ones
who leave asking for more! Also designing and delivering programmes
with my team – I’ve been doing that for 20 years and I still find
it endlessly chal-lenging, exciting and rewarding.
6. What career achievement are you proudest of? Even though I
don’t use it now, as a History graduate I was proud to qual-ify as
a chartered accountant back in 1990. Being admitted as an equity
partner at Ernst & Young in 2006 was another big milestone,
especially as I was a “people partner” and no longer bringing in
revenue.
7. What’s the worst job you’ve ever done? My first paid job was
a DJ, so it’s been downhill since then! I’ve been a hotel
bell-boy, waiter, bank cashier, auditor, accountancy lecturer,
management consultant, children’s entertainer
(a juggling clown – really!). Being a clothes shop assistant was
the worst – so boring!
8. You’re a keen sportsman – what are your sporting
high-lights?It has to be my hole in one at golf when I was playing
with my Dad two summers ago. He was the one to find my “lost” ball
in the hole!
9. What are your favourite holiday spots? The Greek Islands are
very special, and Paros and Santorini are my favou-rites.
Please do contact me for tips – I will ask my Greek Mum!
10. What else helps keep Nick Deal happy? Simple things: hanging
out with my wife and kids, scoring goals and making putts,
sunshine, spicy food, parties and of course travelling – the
odd upgrade always helps!
PEOPLE POWER: Nick Deal (second from right) with his People
Development Managers – from left, Ronney Ngan, Christina Reis and
Jesse Lui.
WOOF JUSTICE: Vivian, pictured with boyfriend Kenny, gives one
of their homemade treats – a special birthday cake – to their dog,
Whiskey.
-
MOVIE MAGIC: The FunCX team in Kolkata gathered staff and family
for a showing of Guardians of the Galaxy on Independence Day.
COMINGS AND GOINGS: The UAE
team bade farewell to Brian Yuen
in style and welcomed Ashish
Kapur into the role.
HELLO, GOODBYE: The team in Malaysia bade
farewell to former Country Manager Melody Keung
and welcomed Mary Chan into the job.
The CX Tai Chi team had an impressive run at the 9th
International Wushu Competition held in Hong Kong in August.
Taking part were more than 1,200 wushu athletes from Hong Kong
and around the world, including China, Croatia, France, India,
Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan and Macau.
The skilled CX team swept several grand trophies at the event,
in-cluding Best Team, Best Coach (Master CC Kwan), Best Athlete
(FIN’s Angie Ng) and Individual All-Round 2nd Runner-up (ISD’s
Josephine Wong).
Staff also won 48 gold, 11 silver and 4 bronze medals in
individual events under the leadership of FIN’s Angie Ng; as well
as the gold medal at the sword team event under the leadership of
ISD’s Jose-phine Wong.
“Our preparation started months prior to the competition and our
team members were fully committed,” says team leader Angie Ng. “On
top of our regular practice after work, additional sessions were
arranged for crew and roster staff during lunch hours and weekends
under the tutelage of our cifu, Master CC Kwan.”
To sustain the team’s professional image among the tai chi
com-munity, the team hopes to continue recruiting new blood,
training existing members and preparing core athletes for
world-renowned competitions.
“We’re honoured to have ISD’s Tricia Seng and Josephine Wong
representing Hong Kong to participate in the first World Taijiquan
Championships, which will be held in Chengdu in November this
year,” says Angie.
On tOp Of the wOrld
ONEWORLD FUNDAY: The “oneday
oneteam oneworld” roadshow
landed at Narita Airport in July to
promote the alliance.
DIFFERENT STROKES: Nick Rhodes presents
the Inter-Department Golf Tournament cup to
ENG heroes Craig, Richard, David and Kenneth.
SPREAD THE WORD: CX made its pres-ence felt at the Global
Business Travel Association (GBTA) tradeshow in Los Angeles.
PATRIOTISM ON DISPLAY: The Delhi airport team decorated their
counters – and their wrists – with the Indian flag on Independence
Day.
STILL STRONG: The Los Angeles team recently celebrated the
route’s 24th year of operation.
VETERAN RETIRES: The Taiwan team held a retirement farewell
party for Marketing Man-ager William Ling, with GM Patrick Yeung
thanking him for 36 years of service.
Cooking up adoggy treat
15
INDEPENDENCE DAY: The Delhi team celebrated Independence Day
by
hosting a fun-filled barbeque lunch.
Congratulations to the CX Tai Chi Team, which comprises:Angie Ng
(FIN), Cherry Leung (WRT), Chetan Shetty (IMT), Christina Li (AHQ),
Christine Chan (ENG), Cynthia Yung (WRT), Calvin Leung, Helen Chih
(ISD), Hwa Soo Yoo (ISD), Ivy Lee (PNL), Josephine Wong (ISD),
Makiko Fujita (ISD), May Ng (IMT), Patricia Yu (ENG), Regina Lam,
Sandy Yan, Shera Cheng (ISD), Tara Tjhang (ISD), Hoffman Tik (FOP),
Tammy Lau (WRT) and Margaret Ng.
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16
SHOW US YOUR TIPS!CX World welcomes staff travel tips from
across the network – email us at CCD#SCT
Travel bites
n Dawn of the deadThe Day of the Dead, or Día
de los Muertos, is celebrated in Mexico between 31 October
and
2 November. Often confused with Halloween due to the proximity
in time, this holiday is not about frights, but instead welcomes
the souls of the dead back home as a blessing.
This festival, which also takes place in the US and other
countries with large Mexican populations, is celebrated most
authentically in Oaxaca.
Take part in altar and cemetery tours, and at night, bask in the
candlelight processions and vigils in town, accompanied by the
tunes of roving Mariachi bands.
n Winter wonderland At the two-month Harbin International Ice
and Snow Sculpture Festival, the region’s landscape is transformed
by works of art and architecture made with ice from the Songhua
River.
Expect to be dazzled by the thousands of pieces sprread between
four primary parks and amusement zones.
This year’s festival takes place in Heilongjiang in China
between 5 January and 28 February.
Visit www.icefestivalharbin.com for more.
n InterContinental Bali offer Experience Intercontinental Bali’s
hospitality in a tropical landscaped resort with access to 500
metres of pristine beach at Jimbaran Bay. Special industry rates
start at US$100 for a Resort Classic Room and go up to US$325 for a
Club Duplex.
Benefits include 50% discount on breakfast and club level
access.
Visit www.bali.intercontinental.com to find out more about the
hotel, and the “Staff Offers” page on IntraCX for details about the
staff discount.
Flight Attendant Alex Budiman took this photo at La Sagrada
Familia in Barcelona, Spain.
The massive Roman Catholic church was designed by famous Catalan
architect Antoni Gaudí, who left only less than a quarter of the
building completed up till his death at 73 in 1926.
“If you only have limited time for your stay in Barcelona, then
make this uncompleted landmark the top of your itinerary,” says
Alex. “Not only is it the best interpretation of Gaudi’s brilliant
vision and an architectural challenge to construct, it is
impossible to find another church like this anywhere in the
world.”
Its anticipated completion date is 2026, the centenary of
Gaudi’s death.
“Be sure to visit the church when the glorious sun rays burst
through the colorful stained-glass,” Alex adds. “Most importantly,
remember to book the entry tickets online to avoid the extremely
long queues. Standing under the glaring sun for a few hours is no
fun at all!”
Visit Alex’s travel blog at
travelwithoutborders.wordpress.com.
Snap happy
Head of Compliance Fiona So recounts a gruelling but
unforgettable endurance race
HK$500 for a travel tale!Every month, CX World invites all CX
staff to tell unusual, interesting or
