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A magazine for staff and friends of Cathay Pacific Airways
Ready to rockHong KongGoing gaga over We Will Rock You
news
“I Can Fly” finishes with a flourish
Out of AfricaWildlife in all its natural beauty
travel
A fittingfinale
news
A father-and-son team on show
A familyaffair
who, what, where
Page 4 Page 5 Page 14 Page 16
PRINTED ON 100% RECYCLED PAPER
New terminal boost for HK cargo hub
April 2008, Issue 145
In an important development for Hong Kong’s airfreight industry, a CX subsidiary has been awarded the franchise to design, construct and operate the new cargo terminal at Hong Kong International Airport.
A 20-year franchise agreement was signed between Cathay Pacific Services Ltd (CPSL) and the Airport Authority on 18 March for a HK$4.8 billion terminal which will be open to all freight carriers using HKIA by the second half of 2011.
The new terminal, occupying a 10-hectare site in the cargo area of the airport, will have an annual throughput capacity of 2.6 million tonnes of freight and will play a key role in securing Hong Kong’s future as a hub.
“The additional air cargo handling capacity and facilities provided by the new terminal will give HKIA a much-needed boost to contend with increasing competition from other airports in the region,” says Chief Executive Tony Tyler.
“The addition of new capacity and more competition will stimulate an increase in cargo flights to HKIA which in turn will bring substantial economic benefit to Hong Kong.”
• Work already underway – page 3
CX staff displayed their customary willingness to help as soon as the news came through that Oasis Airlines was stopping its operations.
With thousands of passengers left stranded, the HKSAR Government called on CX to help out, and within hours of the announcement being made a special hotline was up and running.
At the same time the airline rushed to organise two extra sectors to London – not an easy task at a time when aircraft rotation and the crewing situation are both extremely tight.
Soon after the Oasis news came through, around 120 staff from Head Office Reservations, Hong Kong Office, CPLP, Revenue Management and CX Holidays filed into the CEPIC room on the 5th floor of North Tower to man the phones (below).
• Continued on page 2
Staff showcan-do spirit
HK$4.8b facility opens 2011 for use by all airfreight operators at HKIA
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HVY HEART: Cathay Pacific’s first Boeing 747 freighter – and oldest fleet member – retired from service on 31 March. The following day saw staff from key line departments pay tribute to the workhorse of the CX fleet at a farewell party at HAECO.
• More on page 8
MagnificentSevens!
The 2008 Hong Kong Sevens was a big winner for New Zealand, co-sponsor Cathay Pacific – and, of course, for Hong Kong!
• See pages 8-9
Produced by CX’s Corporate Communication Department
7/F North Tower, Cathay Pacific City, Lantau, HK
Publisher: Dane ChengManaging Editor: Mark Tindall
Editor: Joyce WongEnquiries: 2747-5293GalaCXy ID: CCD#SCT
Email: ccd#[email protected]
2
oneworld expands!Mexicana inclusion boosts South American networkMexicana, Mexico and Central America’s leading airline, formally joined the oneworld alliance on 9 April with a signing ceremony in Los Angeles.
Its subsidiary Click Mexicana will join at the same time, as an affiliate member. Both will be flying as part of oneworld in 2009, when they will start offering the alliance’s full range of services and benefits to their own customers and those from their new oneworld partners.
The Mexicana and Click Mexicana networks will add 26 destinations to the oneworld map – 24 in Mexico plus Bakersfield in California and Edmonton, Canada. Its addition will expand to 35 points the alliance’s network in Mexico from the current 11.
During the ceremony, Mexicana Chief Executive Officer Manuel Borja said: “Mexicana is honoured to be invited to join the world’s leading quality airline alliance – to be flying alongside some of the biggest and best in this business.
“As a member of oneworld, we will be able to offer our customers more choice and convenience, a
Staff show can-do spirit to get passengers away
more extensive global network, more opportunities to earn and redeem frequent flyer rewards, more customer service support and better value. For Mexicana and our employees, this will strengthen our position in an increasingly competitive marketplace.”
Manuel also explained why Mexicana had moved from the Star alliance (which it left in 2004) to oneworld, saying the
We have always tried to highlight to our staff what a precarious busi-ness we are working in. This is a tough, competitive industry at the best of times, with low margins and high costs the norm. It can only get tougher at a time when fuel prices are soaring and economic uncer-tainty is rising.
No one can ever expect an easy ride in aviation but it was still a shock – for the industry and for Hong Kong – to see Oasis close so soon after launching. We take little pleasure from seeing other airlines fail because it is our firm belief that competition is an essential com-ponent of our industry. Seeing this happen is a reminder that no-one owes us a living, either: we have to go out and earn it every day.
Oasis’s closure left a lot of passen-gers in a difficult and stressful situ-ation, so we reassured the govern-ment that Cathay Pacific would do all it could to help those stranded.
We were able to operate two ex-tra sectors to London the weekend following the announcement and also offer special one-way fares for those with confirmed Oasis book-ings.
We did not do this for commer-cial gain. In fact, the extra sectors put a strain on our operation at a time when aircraft rotation and the crewing situation are extremely tight.
However, we had a great re-sponse from crew to operate the extra flights and from staff to man the telephones. I’d like to thank ev-eryone who helped out.
The Oasis problem highlights how important it is for Cathay Pacific to strengthen its core busi-ness wherever possible. The news that our subsidiary Cathay Pacific Services Ltd has been awarded the franchise to run the new cargo ter-minal at HKIA is a tremendous shot in the arm in this respect.
Hong Kong is already the world’s number one airfreight hub, and the opening of the new terminal in 2011 will do a lot to help the city maintain that position in the face of increasing competition from other hubs in the region. The new termi-nal is an exciting development for our airline and for Hong Kong.
Tony Tyler, Chief Executive
Message from the
Chief Executive
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world economic slowdown after September 2001 had forced the airline to draw up a new alliance strategy.
“The outcome was the launch of extensive bilateral alliances, including code-sharing, frequent flyer links and through check-in agreements, with both American Airlines and Iberia in 2005/2006.
“Later we also started similar arrangements with Cathay Pacific,
Performance Index
Passengers carried 2,164,663 +16.0%
Passenger load factor 82.1% +2.4pt
ASKs (000) 9,667,312 +13.7%
Freight carried 150,202t +4.9%
Cargo load factor 68.2% +0.6pt
ATKs (000) 2,091,355 +9.3%* Figures for Mar 2008
55.7%
87%Within 15 minsIndustry standard
on-the-dot CX standard
Traffic/capacity (CX + KA)*On-time performance
• From page 1
Between 4pm on 9 April and 1am on 11 April they fielded a total of 9,700 calls – with an incredible 3,800 people ringing between 6pm and 8pm on the first day.
“I was really impressed by the spirit of staff who did a great job trying to help anxious and frustrated travellers,” says Manager Worldwide Reservations & Ticketing Mary Chan.
“Many of the callers told us how much they appreciated our help.”
The Government expressed its appreciation too, writing to CX to thank the airline for its quick response in getting
passengers – including scores of children returning to school – to their destinations.
Within two days more than 1,700 Oasis passengers had flights confirmed on CX at the special one-way fare of HK$2,500.
Around 660 of these passengers flew on the two CX2353 extra sectors, operated by crew drawn off standby at short notice.
HKIA staff helped to ensure a remarkably
smooth check-in for both flights, with an area of Aisle D specifically allocated for the extra sectors.
Chief Operating Officer John Slosar
says that CX staff have the ability not to quibble
Japan Airlines, LAN and Qantas,” Manuel said.
In the months ahead, Mexicana will adapt key internal processes to conform with oneworld require-ments, link its IT systems to those of the oneworld partners and carry out an extensive employee training and communications programmes, to ensure that staff worldwide are ready to provide oneworld’s cus-tomer services and benefits from day one.
Once all its pre-joining require-ments are sufficiently progressed, an exact date in 2009 will be con-firmed for it to join.
Look out in next month’s CX World for more information about new oneworld alliance partner Mexicana.
TEAM SPIRIT: The crew of the first CX2353 flight prepare for take off. The two extra sectors to London both left with every seat filled.
– “they just get stuck in and get the situation sorted out,” he says.
“I would like to offer my sincere thanks to everyone – crew, airport
staff and the call centre team – who all helped make things easier for a lot of anxious and frustrated people.”
ALL IN THE FAMILY: Crew from the alliance partners welcome Mexicana.
3
Beijing lounge gets warm reception from passengersThe impressive 843-square-me-tre Dragonair and Cathay Pacific Lounge opened to wide acclaim on 26 March in Terminal 3 at Beijing Capital International Airport.
Seating 175, includ-ing a 15-seat VIP room, the spacious lounge area features large-screen televisions and an ample supply of in-ternational newspapers and magazines. Internet
wireless connection is also available with 12 personal workstations for added privacy.
Passengers travelling in First or Business Class on Dragonair or Ca-thay Pacific will have access to the lounge as well as Silver-status or above Marco Polo Club members.
The next big opening will be Shanghai Pudong International Airport’s new Terminal 2 on 29 April, featuring the biggest CX group lounge outside of Hong Kong.
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n CX takes stake in engine facilityCathay Pacific will take a 9.9% stake in GE Engine Services (Xiamen) Company Limited (GEEX) following a sharehold-ing restructuring last month.
HAECO and TAECO entered into an agreement with GE Pacific Private Limited and General Electric Company to purchase a majority sharehold-ing in GEEX.
GEEX is the owner of an en-gine overhaul facility adjoining TAECO’s aircraft maintenance facility in Xiamen, with assets including an engine shop with a floor area of 3,500 square metres and an advanced engine test cell capable of ac-commodating the full range of GE engines.
The facility has recently been utilised in testing GE90 jet engines, which are now being employed by CX on the new Boeing 777-300ER fleet.
n IT Value Report publishedIMT has just released its 2007 “IT Value Report”, which meas-ures how well the company is doing in terms of exploiting IT.
The report, which offers combined results for CX and KA, also examines how IT sup-ports and creates value for the business and can help lead to change and improvement.
The latest report – which can be accessed through the IT Desk on IntraCX – also outlines the most important IT activities and focus in 2008.
n Earn more Asia Miles Asia Miles members can now earn China Mer-chants Bank Rewards Points with every local or overseas purchase made with the China Merchants Bank Platinum Credit Card.
Another new addition to the travel reward programme is Regus, an “office solutions provider” that offers profes-sional meeting rooms, virtual offices and office space in 950 business centre locations worldwide.
Briefs
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Top selling CX duty-free item in 2007 was the L’Occitane Happier Hands
12,000
Terminal boost for HKWork begins immediately after CX subsidiary wins cargo franchise
Just a few days after the announce-ment that CX wholly owned sub-sidiary Cathay Pacific Services Ltd (CPSL) had been awarded the new cargo terminal franchise at HKIA, a team was out at the airport doing a site investigation.
On 31 March, staff from lead de-sign consultant Meinhardt and site investigation contractor Gammon were at the 10-hectare site – sand-wiched between HACTL and Asia Airfreight Terminals – drilling to get soil and ground information. That work is expected to last six weeks.
Foundation and substructure work is expected to begin in July, and construction of the main build-ing should begin around the end of 2008.
By mid-2011 Hong Kong will have a brand new cargo facility – open to all airline customers using HKIA – with a designed annual air cargo throughput capacity of 2.6 million tonnes.
The capacity and facilities provid-ed by the HK$4.8 billion facility will, says Chief Executive Tony Tyler, “give HKIA a much-needed boost to con-tend with increasing competition from other airports in the region”.
The facility represents a “signifi-cant investment and commitment by Cathay Pacific” that Tony says will strengthen HKIA’s position as the world’s leading air cargo and logis-tics hub.
“New capacity and more competi-tion will stimulate an increase in car-go flights to HKIA which in turn will bring substantial economic benefit to Hong Kong,” he says.
A 20-year franchise agreement for a common use cargo terminal was signed between CPSL and the Hong Kong Airport Authority on 18 March. The new terminal will be operated at arms’ length from CX Cargo by a sep-arate management team in CPSL.
Cargo Terminal Programme Manager Peter Lee, who led the team that submitted CX’s bid for the terminal, says that the setting up of the MHS – material handling system – is key to the whole cargo
terminal operation. Siemens has al-ready been appointed to do the final stage design and will build the MHS.
“This is the most important part – the actual construction is basically a wall around the MHS,” says Peter.
In the Cargo Terminal Programme team, Ian Hunt – who oversaw the building of Cathay City – will lead the construction stream.
Ken Lu, Cargo Terminal Informa-tion Infrastucture Manager, will over-see the implementation of informa-tion systems.
Jackie Chui, Duty Manager from CGO’s Hub Operations team, will be responsible for the design and im-plementation of operations proce-dures until an Operations Manager is recruited.
SITE UNSEEN: A CX freighter passes by the location for the new terminal (above). The CX terminal team on a site visit just before work began (left).
Produced by CX’s Corporate Communication Department
7/F North Tower, Cathay Pacific City, Lantau, HK
Publisher: Dane ChengManaging Editor: Mark Tindall
Editor: Joyce WongEnquiries: 2747-5293GalaCXy ID: CCD#SCT
Email: ccd#[email protected]
Fast factsNew terminal June 2008 – foundation work
begins Late 2008 – construction begins Mid-2011 – terminal completed
CX freighters 18 freighters to be delivered by
2012 First 747-400ERF arrives May
2008 30 freighters in CX fleet by 2012
Cargo facts 3.2% growth for CX/KA cargo in
2007 4.5% growth in throughput at
HKIA in 2007 6.4% increase in HKIA cargo air
traffic in 2007
kits were sold
4
Get ready to rockCathay Pacific prepares to welcome Queen’s crazy little musical to Hong KongRock theatre at its finest will hit Hong Kong in May with We Will Rock You – a unique col-laboration of the music of legendary rock group Queen and British author/comedian Ben Elton.
Currently on an Asian tour, the musical will play at the Hong Kong Lyric Theatre starting 16 May with Cathay Pacific as the title sponsor.
In Hong Kong it will be im-possible to miss the fact that the city is hosting the show with promotional activities planned throughout the month of May.
Assistant Marketing Manag-er Elise To says: “There will be print ads and billboards throughout the city. To attract overseas visitors we have a Fly ‘n See We Will Rock You Musical package which is being heavily promoted in Jakarta, China, Thailand and the Philippines and includes air tickets, accommodation and show tickets.”
Reporters from those countries were in-vited to a Singapore launch night to preview the show and entice potential customers to Hong Kong.
For CX passengers, the aircraft will re-verberate to the sounds of We Will Rock You. “Discovery magazine will feature it, the soundtrack will be on the audio channel and there will be a promotional video inflight,” Elise says.
“The meal tray will also include a special
Shopping goes back in timeInflight Sales is evoking the old-world feel of luxury travel by selling a range of vintage items through its pre-flight order website, including Louis Vuitton trunks, Rolex watch-es and Hermes clocks.
The promotion, running until the end of June, is the first of its kind in the travel re-tail industry and is seen by the Inflight Sales team as going “Beyond Duty Free”.
Erica Peng, Inflight Sales and & Logistics Manager, says: “Nowadays people regard duty free as wine and cigarettes, but they don’t expect anything different.
“We want this promotion to excite pas-sengers to think of duty free as offering something special – which is why we have called it ‘Beyond Duty Free.’ “
All the items have been sourced from spe-cialist shops or auction houses in Paris and Erica says this will be a major attraction for Asian passengers.
“It is not as easy to find these vintage items in Asia as it is in Europe, for instance. So we think interest from Asia will be quite high.
“There is also the exclusive factor – there are only 16 items. Three Louis Vuitton trunks, six Hermes items and seven Rolex items.”
The price of the items on sale ranges from a few hundred US dollars to over US$25,000.
Passengers can order the items online from www.cathaypacific.com/dutyfree and the item will be delivered onboard next time they fly, except the trunks which will be de-livered to the passenger’s home.
card with a word search game where the pas-senger has to find three Queen songs. They can then take that card to the Lyric Theatre and get a 10 per cent discount on souvenirs.”
A Gala Premier night will be held on 17 May with 300 VIPs from business groups,
trade partners and the government being invited. “We will also have invita-tion-only nights for Marco Polo Club members as well as Asia Miles partners with a special corporate hospital-ity area,” says Elise.
More on We Will Rock You in the May CX World.
ON THEIR WAY: Stars from the hit musical are heading to Hong Kong.
5
Get ready to rock
ROUND OF APPLAUSE: Tony Tyler and special guests join graduates in performing the “I Can Fly” hand symbol (above). Members celebrate their graduation (right).
n On time in AmsterdamCathay Pacific was the proud winner of the Punctuality Award 2007 – Intercontinental in the annual Schiphol Amsterdam Awards.
In 2007 the airline had the best on-time performance for depar-tures within 15 minutes with a punctuality score of 87.7%.
CXAMS Airport Services Man-ager Irma van Buuren collected the award on the airline’s behalf.
n OLCI surgeThe number of passengers using Online Check-In continues to grow, with 183,000 using the service in March – a year-on-year rise of 120%.
Overall, use of OLCI grew by 110% in 2007 and a target of 100% growth in 2008 has been set.
By the end of the year the aim is to have 24% of all eligible passengers checking in through CX.com.
n Have we got it right?Staff can tell the company what they think about a new customer promise developed by the airline – and win great prizes in the process.
iPods and travel coupons are up for grabs for those who complete the survey and give the company their thoughts on whether internal impressions of CX match what passengers think.
Staff opinions on the state-ment – which can be accessed through Zone Highlights on IntraCX until 17 April – will help the airline focus more clearly on brand positioning and delivering to passengers as effectively as possible.
n Losing power in SACrew flying into Johannesburg have been alerted to the regular power cuts in the country, which are expected to escalate in April.
Backup power is available at the crew hotel, the Indaba, and security is being maintained at normal levels.
The power outages are affect-ing office staff in JNB, particularly
for email, and staff in other ports have been alerted to a possible
slow response.
Briefs
CX.com receives an average of
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English soars to new heightsThe importance of learning English to prepare for a future career in avia-tion was highlighted in an exciting new way on 16 March when 115 secondary school students from Tung Chung and Sham Shui Po dis-tricts were taken for a special flight in the skies over Hong Kong.
The theme for the day was “Eng-lish on Air”, and the students were encouraged to brush up their Eng-lish conversational skills by talking
1,000 members attend as programme comes to a stunning finale
‘I Can Fly’ graduates! A simple closing ceremony held at the Hong Kong Polytechnic Uni-versity on 5 April marked the of-ficial end of the 2007/08 “I Can Fly” Programme, Cathay Pacific’s flag-ship aviation and community pro-gramme specially tailored for local youngsters.
Chief Executive Tony Tyler hosted the event, which saw all 1,000 mem-bers celebrating their graduation together with their CX pilot leaders and staff volunteers.
Other guests included Hong Kong Secretary for Labour and Wel-fare Matthew Cheung and Director-General of Civil Aviation Normal Lo, who joined Tony in congratulating the young graduates for success-fully completing the hectic course.
They also commended the 100 outstanding performers for putting in a lot of effort to learn and serve during the programme year.
Unlike before, the 2007/08 “I Can Fly” took only four months to complete instead of the usual 18
page views every month
million
to the airline’s staff and a group of 18 multinational exchange students from the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Host for the occasion was Chief Executive Tony Tyler who was there to welcome the special passengers and joined them for the flight. Tony praised the international flavour of the event, likening it to the global nature of the aviation business.
“English is the international lan-
guage for aviation, and if any of you have dreams of join-ing this industry – whether as a pilot, a flight attendant or an en-gineer – you will need to be able to speak the language well,” he said.
The 110-minute flight took the students over the South China Sea and gave everyone the opportunity to enjoy the state-of-the-art enter-tainment facilities on board the new Boeing 777-300ER aircraft, specially painted in the “Asia’s world city” liv-ery.
Everyone was served food and drinks by CX cabin crew before the students settled in to fill out their souvenir Travel Logbook.
A student from the Sham Shui
months. Assistant CCD Manager, Public Relations Alan Lui explains that while the programme was made more compact, the momen-tum of the activities remained high throughout the course.
“It’s a pity we can’t always be present at every activity to share the happy moments with the mem-bers,” he adds.
Come July, 40 out of the 100 out-standing ICF members will be vis-iting the flying school in Adelaide where CX cadet pilots undergo their training, while the remainder will go to Tokyo to visit aviation-re-lated facilities.
The organisers have also planned local reward activities for another 40 outstanding members including simulator rides.
I’ll miss the times when we all wore our green ICF uniforms for visits. I will continue with my volunteering work at the YMCA
and hope to build a career in the aviation industry in the future.
Niko Chow(Niki)
I enjoyed ground school training most. It helped me understand more about the lifestyle of a cockpit crew and really
strengthened my determination to be a great pilot!
JoJo Wong (Betsy)
The “I Can Fly” Programme has been a remarkable experience for me and I’ll miss my friends. I am excited about
getting my first real flying experience in Adelaide and hope to study aerospace at university very soon.
John Wong(Spirit of Kai Tak)
I was really impressed by the working culture at CX. The staff here are very energetic and friendly. And the unity that I felt
among different departments really impressed me!
Amy Tang(Boeing)
Po Nam Wah Catholic Secondary School, Wong Man-lik was very ex-cited when the plane took off, “just like a rollercoaster,” he said. As he at-tends a Chinese school there are not many opportunities for him to speak English, and during the flight he was encouraged to talk to the university exchange students.
Tom Gothe, a second-year Hong Kong Chinese University exchange student from Germany, said this was the first time he was able to talk to high school students in Hong Kong. He taught them some English and managed to learn some Cantonese in return.
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What have been the advantages and disadvantages of Narita’s Terminal 2?Terminal 2 is much bigger than Terminal 1, so we need more staff to cover the distance between gates. But everything is also very new – the office, the cars and the staff.
Ryoko YoshinagaCustomer Service Agent
We are now together with oneworld partners Japan Airlines, American Airlines and Qantas which is more convenient for our passengers. But because of the size of Terminal 2, we need to take a shuttle or a train between gates.
Shiina KayoAssistant Supervisor
Terminal 2 is new so I like it better than the old Terminal 1. But after working 30 years in Terminal 1 I was used to it! It took time to become familiar with Terminal 2.
Naohisa MorimotoSupervisor
The oneworld carriers are now together so it is better for the transfer passengers. But Terminal 1 has a more traditional feel and I also prefer the restaurants over there.
Nao YoshidaCustomer Service Agent
Terminal 2 has more Japanese gift shops and shopping than Terminal 1. But Terminal 2 is still being renovated and is dark.
Hotchi ChigusaCustomer Service Agent
Our thanks to CX staff at Narita
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Regarding the lucky draw, this was essentially an extension of the Gala Dinner and gave the thou-sands of Hong Kong-based opera-tional staff who could not be there on the night the chance to win a prize.
There would have been tax is-sues for some of the prizes in cer-tain countries, making it imprac-tical to extend the prize draw to outports. Also, many of the prizes – dining vouchers or gift vouchers, for example – would not be conve-nient for outport staff to use.
Meanwhile, I would like to reiter-ate that outport staff are very much valued as part of the CX team and we thank you all for your great con-tribution.
Breath of fresh airNow that spring is coming, it would be great to be able to en-joy the sunnier days outside.
The smokers’ garden is beauti-ful, but there is nowhere comfort-able to sit and enjoy it.
I find the other area outside Da-kotas to be stark and like sitting in a goldfish bowl.
This is a shame as, with a bit of effort, it could be made pleasant and comfortable.
Until the pool is open again there is no proper outside space at Cathay City.
I would like to suggest plac-ing some chairs and tables for the smokers’ area as well as some plants and more comfortable fur-niture to make the patio more in-spiring, especially as this is a very visible area of Cathay City.
Name withheldFOP
John Arnold, Manager Property and Services replies: Thank you for your comments. I’m also keen to encourage our colleagues to enjoy the outside facilities at Ca-thay City.
I agree that the smokers’ gar-den is beautiful. The landscaping, which incorporates some seating, also makes very good use of a fair-
ly limited space. As such I would rather not clutter that space with tables and chairs.
Such additions may also en-courage colleagues to bring food into the garden which I would consider inappropriate as it is essentially a smokers’ fa-cility.
In respect of the patio outside of the Dakotas Bar and Lounge, I agree that the space is rather stark. There are plans to replace the white plastic furniture and umbrellas around the middle of this year with wooden furniture. But there are no plans at pres-ent to add plants to this area.
Need more hot food
Unless you buy the cook-to-order food in The Galley, the food is nor-mally served warm rather than hot, especially rice.
Although Maxim’s does a sur-vey every year, it seems that this shortfall has been ignored. I don’t understand why other fast food chains elsewhere can serve hot food, but not Cathay City!
Name withheldIMT
Perry Cheung, District Manag-er – Quick Service Restaurant and Catering Service Division, Maxim’s Caterers Ltd, replies: Thank you for bringing the mat-ter to our attention.
Upon receipt of your letter, immediate improvements were put into place. The food is now cooked in smaller quantities to enhance temperature control and the counter staff have also been briefed to pay attention to food temperature when it is served to customers.
If there are any comments on food and service quality in the future, please feel free to con-tact Maxim’s Caterers branch manager, Edward Yeung.
Star letter
Outport staff in the coldA Staff Gala Dinner was held in Hong Kong and whilst I think it is great to celebrate our successes I can’t help but feel somewhat left out. I live and work in Auckland, so am some distance away from Hong Kong.
I can appreciate and fully understand the impossibilities of trying to include all staff for such an event. However, I can’t help but feel a tad aggrieved. It appears no effort was made to include a percentage of the out-port colleagues!
In the Daily News it stated that over 400 prizes were given away at the Gala Dinner – and all Hong Kong-based staff were eligible for the prize draw (whether they were there or not).
I think it’s bad enough that none of the outport staff were invited, when over 3,000 seats were allocated, but to be exclud-ed from the prize draw too adds insult to injury. I can appreciate the logistics of sending a HDTV to an outport, along with duty liabilities – but certainly most of the other prizes could have been distributed!
All I ask is that your outport colleagues be considered when planning such events in future.
Carol HudsonAuckland
William Chau, Director Person-nel, replies: Thank you for your letter, Carol. The idea behind the Staff Gala Dinner was to thank staff in Hong Kong who rarely have the chance to get together in the same place. The situation is different in outports, where there are often Christmas/festive gather-ings or staff outings where people from all departments can join in the fun.
The event was organised at quite short notice and it really would have caused too many lo-gistical problems to extend invites to outport staff.
However, we did make it clear that last year’s great achievements were down to ALL staff around the world, not just those invited to the dinner.
Discount help Most airlines offer discounted ticket to domestic helpers, how-ever the employer still needs to provide a one-way ticket after the contract is completed.
I think there is an opportunity to develop this business under Travel Desk, such as offering dis-counts to fill up the open space during the low season.
Anita WuCGO
Wilson Kwan. Pricing & Sales Support Manager, replies: We do have a range of competitive labour fares available, including one way and return, ex-Hong Kong, which are saleable from both on and offline channels and are tailored for helpers.
There are several levels of fares whose availability depends on the seasonal demand of the flights concerned. If demand is low then lower fares will open up. In this way we can capture demand on the weaker flights.
Word of praise Recently I was in Hong Kong for personal reasons and registered as an ID90 passenger for my re-turn to Frankfurt on board CX285 on 4 March.
Due to unforeseen circum-stances, I had to switch the flight to Paris so I explained the matter at the stand-by counter. The staff on duty were very helpful accom-modating the last-minute request and switched all my details to CX261 to Paris, before requesting that I return to the desk at 11pm for final updates.
I returned at about 10.55pm and a staff member said she had been looking for me. At first I thought I was late but then realised that she was simply going out of her way to take good care of me. My boarding card was already pre-pared and I was very happy with the treatment I received.
For me it was indeed receiving SSFTH. Thank you
Sylvia LuleyFrankfurt
Letters to the Editor
Last month we asked you “Do you think there are enough communication channels for staff to express their opinions?” You answered:
Check out the CX World website and Daily News on IntraCX for next month’s poll question.
Yes, I am free to give my point of view and receive feedback
Not really – we need more op-portnities for face-to-face inter-action with senior management
Not at all. Com-munication in CX is very much from the top down
%0 10 20 30 40
The online poll
Send us your feedbackWe welcome feedback from anyone in the CX network on any issue affecting the airline or the industry. Please email your letters to CCD#SCT. Not all letters will be published but those that are will be edited for length and to comply with the CX World style.
The sender of the star letter each month will win 3,000 Asia Miles. The Feedback page is sponsored by Asia’s leading travel reward programme.
7
According to Captain Marcus de Santis, Manager KA/CX Flying Integration, the most profitable and rewarding investment you can make in life is time with family and young people.
To that end he helped establish the Dragonair Aviation Certificate Programme which he describes as “the best investment I have ever made.”
Now in its third year, the programme works with the Hong Kong Air Cadet Corps to identify young people who are truly passionate about a career in aviation.
“I started the programme after my son expressed an interest in aviation,” Marcus explains. “I took him to work to talk to various people to help decide whether it really was for him.
“What I realised is how hard it is for local kids to be exposed to various aspects of aviation.”
The cadets undergo an eight-month mentorship programme working together with Dragonair pilots. There are also training sessions, briefings and tours with the backing of aviation-related organisations such as the Civil Aviation Department, Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering Company, the Airport Meteorological Office of the Hong Kong Observatory, the Aviation Security Company and Government Flying Service.
And the programme is not just to find new pilots. “What we found at the beginning is that most want to be pilots. As they go through the programme, they also become interested in engineering or air traffic control. Which is great
because those departments are also looking for enthusiastic young people to join them,” Marcus says.
KA PeoPle
Cadets take flight with the 2008 aviation programmeThe Dragonair Aviation Certificate Pro-gramme for 2008 has started with 14 ea-ger young cadets, aged 18 to 23, taking part. This year’s programme will run until 30 November.
The programme, first launched in Sep-tember 2005, is a joint initiative between Dragonair and the Hong Kong Air Cadet Corps that aims to inspire a new genera-tion of aviators in Hong Kong.
“The aim of the Dragonair Aviation Certificate Programme is to give our ca-dets first-hand knowledge of the opera-
Passion for the future
Dragonair’s “Men in Red” captured the attention of the public in Bengaluru (Bangalore) last month as they headed out to start selling the new flight to Hong Kong.
For three consecutive days the BLR sales team visited major corporations in the city, including IT giants such as Infosys and Wipro, and toured the leading travel agencies.
They were certainly easy to spot, heading out on their mission decked out in bright red T-shirts and sporty denim and driving from place to place in specially branded Toyota Innovas with KA ads mounted on the roof.
The aim was to begin building Dragonair’s presence in the new market, giving the counter staff at agencies a chance to meet the BLR team face to face.
The liberal distribution of goodies such as chocolates, T-shirts, caps, cardholders, key chains and aircraft models helped the loyalty-building exercise.
The overall feeling was that Bengaluru agents have a keen interest in the new airline in town, which launches its daily service on 25 May – pushed back from the original launch date of 1 May to allow the operation at Bengaluru’s new airport to settle down.
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Bengaluru blitz begins
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Keeping it uniformKeep the one-piece dark-coloured dresses and the neck scarf for females was the general consensus from the Dragonair in-ternal online staff survey on the current uniform.
A total of 214 staff completed the survey with 79 per cent saying the current uniform was good, very good or excel-lent.
The one-piece dress for women and the male waistcoat were the most liked items.
However the material used is clearly an issue, with staff ranking it as the least liked element across both uniforms.
Suggestions included finding a more suitable material for summer for the male uniform with specific regard to the shirts and trousers.
The navy blue colour was gen-erally well accepted with staff saying it projected an elegant image, crew tended to look slim-mer in a dark colour and, impor-tantly, it blended well with the Asian skin tone.
For future uniform designs, keeping the one-piece dress was the most commonly mentioned element staff felt should be carried forward.
n Dhaka boostA steady growth in the market to and from Bangladesh is leading Dragonair to boost the number of flights to the capital, Dhaka, from four to five a week from 7 July.
The flight enhancement follows on from Cathay Pacific’s recent introduction of a twice-weekly freighter flight to the city.
The additional KA110 service leaves Hong Kong at 10.30pm every Monday, departing Dhaka the following day at 1.25am.
KA BRIeFS
tion of a modern airline and other areas of aviation,” said Dragonair Chief Execu-tive Officer Kenny Tang at the launch cer-emony held on 3 April.
“At the same time we hope to nurture future talents who can excel in the local aviation industry.
“A number of graduates from previous programmes are already forging careers in aviation. I hope to see more and more young people join this industry, which has a vital role to play in the economic development of our home city.”
FINDING FAVOUR: Most of the KA crew like the current uniform.
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Goodbye HVYIt was Cathay Pacific’s first 747 freighter – and it’s the first to go as Classics retire
Legend has it that Cathay Pacific’s first 747 freighter was given the registration HVY because of the airline’s wish for very “HeaVY” cargo.
That wish was certainly granted as the Boeing 747-200 Classic aircraft took off with a first load of more than 100 tonnes, and then plied the skies for an average of 12 hours a day between 1982 and 2008. It played a key role in establishing CX as one of the world’s leading cargo carriers.
Early on Monday, 31 March it all came to end for HVY. The aircraft flew into Hong Kong International Airport from Pudong and its consignment of cargo was unloaded without fanfare.
The crew for the flight – Captain Paul Warren-Wilson, First Officer Jo Rid-der and Flight Engineer Graeme Lee – posed for a commemorative picture and that was it. The aircraft’s long and
distinguished career with the airline was over.
The Classics are a much-loved aircraft and have done a tremendous job for the airline over the years. But the simple truth is that they are no match for the new generation of freighters, which can carry bigger loads over longer distances and burn a lot less fuel in the process.
CX’s Classic fleet is being phased out in a programme headed by Graham Mayho, Aircraft Retirement Manager. Now down to six, four more will leave in 2009, while the last two will be retired in 2012 after CX has received its full order of new 747-400ERF and 747-8F aircraft.
Graham, leading a team of three with support from Engineering, says his main task is to pull together all the documen-tation for the aircraft in preparation for them being handed over to their next owners.
“It’s all going to plan so far, and the experience we get retiring the Classic fleet will help us formalise plans for any future retirement programmes,” says Graham, who worked on HVY when it was registered as G-KILO – British Air-ways’ one and only dedicated freighter.
Graham was one of 100 or so staff from ENG, FOP and CGO who went out for HVY’s farewell party at HAECO on 1 April.
It’s not normal practice to say good-bye to specific aircraft but HVY was “a bit special”, said Director & General Manager Cargo Ron Mathison.
“When it joined our fleet, Hong Kong was not a significant air cargo centre, and CX was certainly not the cargo car-rier it is today. HVY helped to change the shape of our business,” said Ron, praising the aircraft’s phenomenal work rate.
Paying tribute to the frontline staff in ENG, HAECO and TAECO who worked tirelessly to keep the Classics working hard for the airline, Engineering Direc-tor Chris Gibbs said “there is some nos-talgia – but also some relish – as we move into a new era.”
Director Flight Operations Nick Rhodes said there will be a lot to miss about the Classic fleet.
“It’s the end of an era and I’d like to take this opportunity to recognise the contribution of the flight engineers,” said Nick. “There are only 48 of them left in CX and they are part of the history of the Classics and of the airline.”
FOND FAREWELL: A special farewell party was held at HAECO to say goodbye to the old workhorse (anti-clockwise from left). Paul, Joe and Graeme brought in HVY from Shanghai for its last flight (right).
Goodbye HVYIT’S GAME ON!
SEVENS SMASH: CX got a huge marketing boost from the annual rugby extravaganza. The airline’s name was plastered all over the Hong Kong Stadium and on the shirt of Chairman Chris Pratt (below) and the “LIFT” girls in the cargo box (bottom). A Star Trek theme got everyone all Spock-eared in the Asia Miles box.
It was Cathay Pacific’s first 747 freighter – and it’s the first to go as Classics retire
HVY duty – a rich history BA’s first Boeing 747 freighter, G-KILO,
was sold to Cathay Pacific in March 1982. VR-HVY (later B-HVY) was originally
branded as the “Hong Kong Trader” in the hope that Hong Kong would develop into a major cargo hub. Its first flight for CX was 30 April 1982
on a Hong Kong-Abu Dhabi-London Gatwick- Frankfurt-Abu Dhabi-Bangkok-Hong Kong routing. By the time of its last flight on 31
March, HVY had flown 114,000 hours, averaging 12 hours per day for CX. The aircraft had operated around
27,000 cycles – touchdowns and takeoffs – for CX. B-HVY was painted white during the
Gulf War in 1991 and leased to the Royal Air Force to fly into the war zone with CX crew. During its time with BA and CX, a total
of 28 major avionics modifications were done on HVY’s main flight deck area. The quickest engine change took place
on HVY hours before the first test flight, when a problem was found on the No.3
engine. A job that would normally take around 10 hours
was completed by HAECO in 3 hours 10 minutes!
FlASHbAckIn 1982 the Cargo team made a very big fuss indeed about the arrival of VR-HVY into the freighter fleet – and that’s because back then it WAS the freighter fleet!As the Classic arrived from BA and was painted in the famous “lettuce sandwich” livery, CX’s original freighter a B707F – was already on its way out.
The arrival of the Jumbo enabled CX to open up long-haul freight routes for the first time, as highlighted in this ad for the cargo trade.
The ad appeared in a special issue of Cargo Clan devoted to HVY, which highlighted how the freighter would play a vital role in the revitalisation of foreign trade in the airline’s home city – hence the name “Hong Kong Trader”.
It hardly needs saying that this year’s Cathay Pacific/Credit Suisse Hong Kong Sevens was a big success. With a 40,000 sellout crowd, some of the world’s best rugby players and good weather (well, on the Sunday at least) it could hardly fail.
In terms of the sporting action, it was always going to be New Zealand’s weekend. The All Blacks swept aside all opposition and sailed effortlessly to a 26-12 win over South Africa in the final of the Cup.
Chairman Chris Pratt was on hand to present the trophy to France after they beat Argentina 17-14 in the Plate, though Hong Kong – helped by CX Senior First Officer Kris Marin – lost out to Zimbabwe in the semi-final of the Bowl. Russia went on to lift that trophy.
From the airline’s perspective, the Sevens was another winner says James Ginns, General Manager Marketing.
“The Sevens is the biggest and most exciting event in Hong Kong – a truly global event that, as Hong Kong’s home airline, we’re hugely proud to have our name on the title,” says James.
“The event provides for a huge
CX and New Zealand big winners at 2008 Sevens
amount of engagement with our brand by key customers and Hong Kong people generally, demonstrating our commitment to staging great events in our home market.”
This year more than 20,000 overseas visitors flew in for the Sevens, many on CX, while the airline sold 2,500 packages in overseas markets.
“This year, for the first time ever, they were sold out in January – and many were sold with Business Class air tickets,” says James.
CX hosted more than 1,000 people in its three corporate boxes, while more than 10,000 people entered a competition to guess the number of rugby balls in a special tram – together with the billboards around town helping to create a real pre-tournament buzz.
James says there was also a great response to the 2008 CX Sevens commercial, featuring the Black Eyes Peas’ Let’s Get it Started, which ran on TV and boomed out over the stadium’s huge diamond screen.
The Hong Kong Economic Journal was highly complimentary about the ad, saying it captured the fun of the event for Hong Kong people.
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Cheers to CX winnersHard work receives its just reward as awards flood inThirteen may be an unlucky number, but 13 March turned out to be pretty fortunate for Cathay Pacific as the airline picked up several prestigious awards that day.
In the afternoon, Director Ser-vice Delivery Quince Chong was joined by Inflight Service Man-ager Lucy Tsui to receive the Sing Tao Excellent Service Brand Award 2007 from Sui Sai-wo, Executive Editor of the Sing Tao Group – the second consecutive year CX has won in the Airline category.
The night of 13 March saw the CX and KA Marketing team and advertising agency Mc-Cann Worldgroup Hong Kong pick up several trophies at the Best of the Best Awards 2007 MTR Advertising held by Pearl & Dean/JC Decaux.
The CX North America “Foot-
ball” and Australia “Kangaroo” campaign picked up Gold awards for Best AEL Advertis-ing and Best Use of PowerZone, while the KA Fukuoka and Sen-dai route launch won the Gold award for Best New Product launch.
But the big event of the night was the Platinum award for Best MTR Creative Advertising for the
Work is now underway to recruit some 45 youngsters to take part in the latest Cathay Pacific International Wilderness Experience – and this year’s participants will be getting a lot wetter than before!
Called The Amanzi (Zulu for water) World of South Africa, the programme is being held from 22 to 28 July, and features a marine theme for the first time.
During the seven-day programme the students, aged 16-18, will go snorkelling in the Indian Ocean to explore the reef eco-system and find out more about the importance of its conservation.
The youngsters will also spend time with the local Tsonga people to learn about their traditional way of life, including how to fish and build boats. Another new activity will be an elephant game drive, with the chance to view some African wildlife.
“We have maintained a few of the original programme activities so that delegates can introduce their country and culture to their new friends,” says Corporate Communications Executive – Overseas Carina Chow.
Applications are invited until 13 May – find out more at www.cathaypacific.com/iwe.
Celine Kwah,Safety Training Specialist
How long does it take to become a Safety Training Specialist? It takes anywhere from 12 to 18 months to progress from an Emergency Procedures Instructor Trainee to a Safety Training Specialist. I personally took 14 months.
All trainees have to have received the St John’s First Aid Certificate and the Life Saving Bronze Medallion before they can become CAD approved Safety Training Specialists.
How long have you been in the Flight Operation Safety Training School (FOSTS)?I have been in FOSTS for almost eight years now. I joined the department as an Emergency Procedures Instructor Trainee in 2000.
How many trainers are in the department? Currently, there are about 17 trainers, including three trainees.
What courses are run in FOSTS? In FOSTS, we train both cabin and cockpit crew who go through an induction course, a conversion course and a refresher course.
What is contained in a course? During induction, we incorporate basic information to prepare the crew for emergency situations. This includes aircraft door operations, ditching information, fire fighting procedures and techniques and miscellaneous procedures such as decompression or turbulence procedures and, of course, evacuation techniques.
Unfortunately unruly incidents sometimes happen inflight, so we also give our crew security training. They learn techniques to protect themselves and control and restrain disorderly passengers.
When the crew come back for conversion or refresher training, we continue to build on the basics they have already learned.
How many staff do you train every year? That would depend on how many cabin and cockpit crew are joining, but, on average, we train about 1,800 crew altogether.
Do you take refresher courses yourself?We take several refresher courses. The St John’s First Aid Certificate is renewable every three years and we also have refresher training for dangerous goods.
WHAT I DO
KA Fukuoka and Sendai Route Launch – the only platinum award given for a creative.
Later in the month, the Cargo team discovered it had won the ACE Award for Excellence from Air Cargo World magazine.
CX received a superior overall score in four key areas: customer service, performance, value and information technology.
Pilots get ready to rownnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn
ing the event prominence on the website and sending an e-news communication to the 3.2 million Asia Miles members.
Members will also be able to donate Asia Miles or cash to the Sunnyside Club with the goal of helping the two rowers raise an impressive HK$1 million.
Wild – and wet –in South Africa
CROWNING EFFORTS: Quince and Lucy are presented with the Sing Tao award (above right). The KA Fukuoka Sendai launch campaign, right, proved to be worthy of Gold and Platinum.
Cathay Pacific pilots Stu Pryke and John Graham are in the final stages of prepar-ing for the rowing challenge of a life-time.
They plan to row a 24-foot plywood boat (from Subic Bay in the Philippines back to Hong Kong, Hebe Haven in Sai Kung - a distance of more than 600 nau-tical miles. It is the first time anyone has crossed this stretch of the South China Sea employing solely human effort.
As the launch day of early May nears, Stu describes the preparations as “in-tense” but they are “now impatiently waiting to get the blades wet.”
The bright yellow boat, dubbed “Sun-ny”, has also been spruced up to include the logo of title sponsor Asia Miles.
Asia Miles is assisting with public rela-tions and overall communication by giv-
PADDLE POWER: John (right) and Stu with “Sunny” – their home for 16 days in May.
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Online revolutionThe opportunities for promoting the CX brand through theInternet are growing every day. CX World asked Online
Marketing Manager Ali Bullock, above, a few questions about where the airline is heading in this fast-growing area…
The Online Marketing Manager post is a new one at CX – why do we need it?This is an exciting time to have this role. China and India are growing at a phenomenal rate and online is starting to really take a hold in the media world in both these markets and beyond. When Facebook has nearly 1 million members in Hong Kong alone you know that this is an important touch point for CX.
What is Web 2.0 and why is it important to CX?Web 2.0 is the next phase of the Internet or, as I like to call it, “the consumer experience 2.0”. The marketing/selling world has changed: consumers no longer want static adverts and they certainly don’t have the same “loyalty to brands” as before.
Consumers demand that they can interact with their chosen brands, and they want them to prove their credentials, whether it be service, social or environmental. As the web is instant and worldwide, brands have to be transparent to everything they do and fundamentally change their mindset when it comes to the above areas.
Are Facekook and YouTube just fads that will fade away?I can still remember people syaing that mobile phones would be a fad. The Internet is here and increases in importance every year. Am I saying Facebook will be here next year? I don’t know the answer to that. But what I do know is that social networks, travel sites and community photo sites are here to stay.
Is CX behind in the Web 2.0 world?I don’t think we are that far behind. We have to remember our core target is frequent business travellers and our market position means that we don’t have to be as “hip” as say Virgin. We can be a Web 2.0 organisation without jumping into every site we see – we should pick our battles and focus on key areas.
MKT is looking to do much more online and through mobile online channels as well. BlackBerrys and the iPhone present huge opportunities. I don’t think it’s a revolution, more of an evolution about what we do.
We already have a good online presence. Our Internet search engine marketing shows we have a 25 per cent CTR (click-through rate) per month on search engines such as Google. Many organisations would be happy with 12 per cent.
What will be the next online projects for MKT – and how quickly will they happen?We will start to aggressively move into the user-generated content space with our Visit China site and also YouTube initiatives – watch this space.
Will online marketing in some cases replace traditional forms of marketing for CX?TV and print are still a very important part of the media mix. I think you will see a merging of content and platforms with online growing in importance to CX – but I won’t become a marketing GM straight away!
Can you give us a good example of a successful Web 2.0 campaign?Look out for the CX experience site in May. That will have a big impact...
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NThumbs up for job well doneA top agent’s dinner was held on Good Friday at the Renaissance Riverside Hotel in Saigon. To symbolise the union of Cathay Pacific and Dragonair guests were asked to dress in green and red – the corporate colours of the two airlines.
Country Manager Suzanne Wong played host and opened the evening with a thank you speech to all agents who had been supporting CX over the years. The entertainment included staff imitating the kung fu Hong Kong Sevens TV commercial from 2007.
Salute to the top agentsThe first joint Cathay Pacific and Dragonair Agency Dinner Party was held on 13 March.
Hosted by General Manager Taiwan & Korea Adrian Harley, the event celebrated a year of partnership and mutual support between CX, KA and Taiwan agents; and numerous awards were presented to the top selling agents of different routes.
The dinner had an Indian theme to promote the newly launched added flights and destinations to India. All the CX and KA staff dressed for the occasion in India saris while the guests were adorned with tikas and henna hand painting.
The entertainment programme included the popular Can Can dance, a singing contest and a Bollywood dance performed by the members of the Sales & Marketing team.
Ports spread word about new product
Cathay Pacific’s innovative new longhaul inflight product was on display at ITB Berlin in March with a 135-square-metre booth large enough to showcase the entire range of new products and services.
With over 180,000 trade visitors and 10,000 ex-hibitors from 180 countries, ITB Berlin is the world’s leading travel exhibition and served as the ideal backdrop to present the products to the worldwide travel industry.
Visitors to the booth received a live demonstration of the First Class Suite, the fully flat bed in Business Class and the new features in Economy Class.
Tom Melzer, Marketing Communications Manager, Germany, said: “Visitors from all around the world es-pecially enjoyed the huge amount of booth space and the display of all three new inflight products.
“Over 1,000 visitors tried out the new seats and were really delighted by the increased level of space, privacy and personal attention. The whole show was a big success.”
Director Sales & Marketing James Barrington also underlined CX’s leading position in a speech during an official product presentation and press confer-ence, pictured below.
In London, CX UK celebrated the launch of the new inflight product with a series of spectacular events throughout the city.
From 2-3 April, the team hosted three events for Marco Polo Club members, travel bookers and travel trade partners with the new seats prominently on display in the impressive surrounds of the East Win-ter Gardens in London’s Canary Wharf.
The seats were presented on stages which had been crafted to resemble an aircraft interior with mood lighting to match, pictured above. Over 200 guests tried out the new seats during the two days.
The events were hosted by General Manager Eu-rope Philippe de Gentile Williams, who commented “these events have provided an opportunity to cel-ebrate the launch of our new product with our most loyal customers and trade partners in a striking set-ting at the centre of the new financial district.”
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Celebrating history in the makingIt was a sentimental time when CX teams in both Hanoi and Dhaka greeted the newest Cathay Pacific freighter service on 11 March. The new flights are operated by a Boeing 747-200F flying on a Hong Kong - Hanoi - Dhaka - Hong Kong routing every Tuesday and Thursday.
The freighter was the first CX aircraft seen in Hanoi since passenger flight operations stopped in July 2002. It was greeted on arrival by Country Manager Vietnam Suzanne Wong who officiated at a simple ceremony, above left, which included a lion dance performance. On 13 March, more than 80 guests joined General Manager Southeast Asia Anna Thompson at the Hilton Hanoi Opera hotel for a gala dinner to celebrate the launch.
Emotions were also running high in Dhaka as the freighter was the very first CX aircraft to ever land at ZIA International Airport. It was welcomed on arrival, left, by Manager Bangladesh & Nepal, Rick Symington; Cargo Manager – India, Nepal & Bangladesh, Ashish Kapur and the DAC team armed with a very large cake to help commemorate the occasion.
NEWS foCuS
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Mega meetingCX Dubai staff met with Chief Executive Tony Tyler on 24 March at the new Mega Terminal conference room at Cargo Village where he updated them on the company position and overall plans to move forward.
Staff were also thanked for their hard work over the past year while the possibility of a double daily to Dubai was also high on the agenda.
And on 29 February, the first additional flight from Mumbai arrived at Dubai International Airport. The crew were met on the tarmac by Airport Services Manager Midhat Khan and his team, pictured far right.
Jakarta’s Airport Services Supervisor Diana Kamila is the lady to ask if you want to know where the best diving spots in Indonesia are. A member of the Trisakti Diving Club back in school, she used to spend a lot of time searching for new places to dive.
Diana lists Bira Island in Sulawesi, with its clear visibili-ty and beautiful sea wall, as one of her favourite diving spots. Another favourite is a small uninhabited island called Pulau Tempurung (Coconut Shell Island).
“That was where I saw my first shark!” she recalls. Apart from diving, Diana has also been active in commu-
nity service since 1995. She has done volunteer work for tsunami victims and is involved with preventing drug use and the spread of HIV/AIDS among young people.
As a member of the National Committee for Indonesian Youngsters (KNPI) and head of the Women Empowerment Department in her region, Diana helps to solicit donations, organ-ise garage sales to help the poor and occasionally distribute rice.
With the birth of her son, Wisnu, Diana now has less time to devote to these extracurricular activities.
“Still, if there is an offer for a dive trip around Jakarta or a call out for volun-tary work, I’ll be happy to jump in,” promises Diana.
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Colombo takes off!Flight CX703 from Bangkok was greeted with big smiles when it arrived in Colombo eight minutes ahead of schedule.
The feeling of delight by the CX team in Sri Lanka at seeing flights resume after a long suspension, was shared by Colombo’s exporters who rely on CX to carry high-grade tuna to seafood markets in Japan. Consequently the outbound CX700 was a seafood lovers’ paradise with 16 tonnes of sashimi-grade fish for Kansai and two tonnes of live crabs bound for Hong Kong restaurants.
Human passengers were certainly not forgotten with a smattering of VIPs from Colombo, including a team of Australian diplomats who had delayed their journey by several days so that they could travel on this memorable flight.
Keeping busyThe South African team has been busy over the past month holding a casino night to thank the top travel agents in Johannesburg, below centre; hosting a mini golf game for their interline partners, left; and taking over the studio of popular morning radio show The Rude Awakening, below left.
And with all these activities they still found time to set a record, with Reservations staff Shirley Tung and Sonia Yuan establishing a new sales record with a direct passenger booking worth over ZAR180,000 (US$22,267).
Pictured below are (from left) Shirley, Reservation Supervisor Richard Ngobeni and Sonia celebrating the achievement with an appropriately large cake.
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Paul Hadfield, CX Manchester’s Cargo Services Supervisor, has had a long-term love affair with music, beginning with les-sons in school when he was very young.
As a percussionist and guitarist he spent a lot of time in brass bands, and was a member of the Marple Band that won the National Brass Band championship in 1986 and 1988. He toured with the world famous Black Dyke Mills Band in Hol-land and Belgium, and even became involved with a rock band called Redshift.
“Those were the days when I seriously considered going into music full time, but now I just enjoy playing to relax – and occasionally teaching,” says Paul.
Paul says he got into teaching through word of mouth, though he makes it clear from the outset he is not a qualified instructor. He currently teaches drums to three people, includ-ing his eldest daughter Anna. They spend most evenings jam-ming in his soundproofed garage.
“I just try to pass on techniques and knowledge gained from my training and experience in playing all forms of music,” he explains.
A huge Beatles fan, Paul says that playing everything from rock to classical has enabled him to appreciate music in all its forms. “Just to give you an idea, the CDs in my car include Led Zeppelin, The Fratellis, Rush and Arctic Monkeys!” he smiles.
The music man
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DRUMMER BOY: Paul Hadfield indulges his passion for music.
Ready to dive in
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Moving together as a teamThe Cargo team at Incheon got together with its ground-handling agent earlier in the year for a session to further improve the way they provide service to customers.
The “2008 CX/SPI Korea Workshop” was held at Kanghwa island with more than 20 staff from Cargo and Swissport taking part.
The main focus of the day was a brainstorming session to come up with solutions for providing better customer service, with a bit of teambuilding thrown in for good measure!
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HElPing HanD: Diana Kamila is always willing to pitch in.
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CX World welcomes all new staff who have joined the company. Here’s a selection of the newcomers who recently came onboard.
Welcome aboard….
Kris MarinSenior First Officer
1. You’re the only CX staff who plays for Hong Kong’s rugby team – how was the Sevens this year? It was a blast as always. The crowds were at capacity and playing for the local team is always special.
2. The best thing about the Sevens is... The atmosphere. Not many places in the world get so many people from such a variety of countries.
3. How did you get into rugby? I started playing when I was around 10 years old and have never looked back. I played at my boarding school in Sydney, for my university at Newcastle, for the Old Mission Beach Athletic Club in San Diego and for Gordon Rugby Club back in Sydney. I now play for the HKFC.
4. Any bones broken so far? I have had a broken ankle, two ACL reconstructions on my left knee, a broken arm subsequently fortified with a steel plate, broken fingers – and a few broken noses.
5. Any other passions apart from flying and rugby? I enjoy travelling, diving, sitting on the beach and relaxing. Rugby has taken a great deal of time out of my life with six training sessions a week when in season for the Hong Kong side. So when the season is off it’s my time to relax.
6. What was the last movie you saw? Eastern Promises, on the IFE back from Singapore.
7. What’s your favourite food? My wife’s pasta.
8. Beer or wine with dinner? A nice bottle of Italian red.
9. Name three famous people you’d like to meet. There are too many to choose from – rock stars to Einstein.
10. What does a typical Kris Marin Sunday entail?If not working, eating and relaxing with friends.
One little-known fact about last month’s Staff Gala Dinner is that there was a father-and-son pairing performing on the night.
David Chang, IT Manager – Customer Loyalty & Marketing, was one of the African drummers in the opening performance, while son Justin Chang – a Revenue
Joyce Wong – Assistant Communication Services Manager/EditorJoyce’s fascination with airlines and the million-and-one industry acronyms started years ago
when she was a reporter for a regional travel trade newspaper. “I was always impressed by the inflight service and professional manner of the CX staff and am
delighted to now be seated on the other side of the table,” says Joyce.
Thomas Lau – Assistant Public Affairs ManagerThomas worked as a freelancer and policy researcher before joining the airline. “I am thrilled
to be onboard. I am sure that this is the place where people can get the job done as a team and have fun along the way,” he says.
By the way, Thomas is looking for someone to play snooker with. “Fellow Gunners fans preferred,” he adds.
Richard Xing – Engineering TraineeWhile completing his Masters in Aerospace Engineering in the United Kingdom, Richard was
involved in a group project held by Airbus and the University to design an aircraft to replace the B747 aircraft.
“I think the aviation industry is unique among businesses. It is very cyclical, marginal in profitability in general, and highly competitive,” he says.
He is delighted to be in Hong Kong to start his engineering career with CX after spending the last 10 years studying in China, Singapore and England.
Brian Lam – IT Coordinator, CGOBrian is excited to be involved in the new cargo terminal project (see page 3). “I will be responsible for the IT network and hardware. It’s great to be able to work with other
experts to develop a world class terminal at HKIA,” says Brian.
1. Joyce Wong – Assistant Communication Services Manager/Editor 2. Thomas Lau – Assistant Public Affairs Manager 3. Richard Xing – Engineering Trainee4. Brian Lam – IT Coordinator, CGO
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Oneminute with... Keeping it in the family
Specialist – was one of three staff emcees that evening.
The event marked the first-ever stage appearance for both, making it a nerve-wracking evening.
“There were 3,000 pairs of eyes on me, but as the night wore on I began to feel more comfortable,” says Justin.
“I think I did okay in the end!”As for David, he and the other
drummers had just four lunchtime training sessions to get into the rhythm, so small wonder he was nervous on the big night.
“I had to learn how to play the drum as well as remember the music and dance routines,” says David.
Thankfully, everything fell into place and the drum performance got the evening off to an explosive start. David credits his team’s hard work and the drumming coach’s skills for making it all work.
On the work front, the Changs have very different jobs.
David’s focus is on IT,
while Justin, who used to work on football-related projects for the Hong Kong Jockey Club, juggles with revenue stats.
“With a degree in aviation man-agement, I guess joining CX was inevitable,” Justin laughs.
Father is certainly sup-portive of son and believes he will have a rewarding career at CX.
“I hope he can en-joy the culture, lifestyle and travel opportunities I have enjoyed and appreciated so much,” says David.
Eleven Cathay Pacific players flew to Dubai at the end of February to take part in the Inter-Airline Volleyball Competition. They were pretty pleased to head back home with the second-runner-up trophy.
The competition was hosted by Emirates – who robbed CX of their chance to get into the final – with a total of nine airlines taking part.
ISM Freo Fong says that despite the disappointment of losing out to EK, the CX players enjoyed the opportunity to meet up with old spar-ring partners and make new friends.
“After the competition we all got the chance to get a taste of the Middle East during a harbour cruise, and later we met up at the lovely Jumeriah Beach Park for friendly beach volleyball games,” says Freo.
Pipped at the post in DXB
TWO OF A KIND: David and Justin Chang showcase their various skills at the Staff Gala Dinner in Hong Kong.
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EYE TO EYE: CXKUL Airport Services Officer Cindy Lim
has a close encounter with the Black Eyed Peas.
FOND FAREWELL: The Hong Kong REV team said goodbye to two valued colleagues – Lily Lung (seated front) and Samuel Chan (seated second from left).
SWEET REWARD: The RES team in Manila won a
month’s supply of doughnuts for being first in line
when a new Krispy Kreme outlet opened.
GETTING TO KNOW YOU: Staff from different
departments at a Manila airport familiarisation tour.
ONE HAPPY FAMILY: The Product and Marketing Departments were
out in full force at the Stars of CX Gala Dinner in Hong Kong.
EARS TO YOU: An enterprising model went where no man has gone before when MKT’s Jerro Luk dropped by the Asia Miles booth at the Hong Kong Rugby Sevens.
READY FOR ACTION: Members of the Hong Kong Rugby Sevens team tour the flight simulators at Cathay City before the start of the annual sporting extravaganza.
SERVICE WITH A SMILE: The CXPAR sales team take the monthly meeting offsite with a visit to Servair, the new catering facility at CDG.
The QuizEnter our latest quiz and win a
HK$1,000 meal at the newly opened Caviar House & Prunier, located airside
at Hong Kong International Airport. A renowned caviar and smoked
salmon specialist, Caviar House & Prunier combines a unique, contemporary dining style with an exquisitely indulgent menu including fresh Prunier caviar and smoked Balik salmon.
Signature dishes include “Tsarina” – caviar served with smoked salmon and toasted blinis, classic Balik smoked salmon, seafood platters and salads, prawn cocktails, lobster, local sushi and sashimi specialties and caviar “shots” with vodka or champagne.
Complementing the menu is duck foie gras and traditional Spanish ham.
For more information visit www.caviarhouse-prunier.com
The second prize winner will soon be relaxing on a golden beach with a two-night stay for two people in a superior room at the Novotel Benoa Bali.
The 182-room resort is located at the edge of Nusa Dua, overlooking the golden sands of Tanjung Benoa. The resort has been created using traditional Balinese architecture which provides a unique atmosphere set within lush tropical gardens.
A daily cultural entertainment programme is available and facilities include three swimming pools with two whirlpools, a tennis court and a fitness centre. There’s also a specially designed indoor and outdoor spa.
At night, enjoy a delicious meal at the beach restaurant or watch the world go by in one of the three bars.
Find out more at www.novotelbali.com
To enter, visit the online quiz entry form on the CX World site. The deadline is noon on Friday, 2 May.
Being in the spotlight at last month’s Staff Gala Dinner was not the ordeal it may have appeared from afar. Despite being the focus of 3,000 pairs of eyes, Corporate Communications Manager – Overseas Judy Kwan, who was one of the emcees on the main stage, said it was a “relaxing” evening for her.
“I was delighted to play a role,” she says. “And to be part of such a large event for the company.”
Judy has been emcee at large company events before, including the 60th anniversary gala dinner, but she said the
staff dinner will be memorable for her because of the friendly atmosphere.
“The feeling at the staff dinner was very differ-ent from the more corporate events,” she says. “It was a much more relaxed environment which made it easier to respond to the many ad hoc things which happened on stage.
“Everyone was very friendly and supportive, usually at these events people talk among
themselves, but I found staff were really listening and responding to what was hap-
pening on stage.”One of Judy’s favourite hobbies is
jazz dancing which combines her love of music and theatre.
“I have been taking classes in Hong Kong for about 10 years and
I find it is a great form of exercise,” she says.
“I don’t really like jogging or playing sports, but jazz is a
great combination of music and movement. So I regard
it as my exercise!”
Taking centre stage
n Jet off to ColomboCathay Pacific staff can take advantage of special room
rates at some of Sri Lanka’s most spectacular hotels to celebrate the
30 March relaunch of flights to Colombo. The deals include accommodation at
Jetwing Lighthouse and Spa in Galle and the Blue Water, both designed by famous architect Geoffrey Bawa.
Staff can also enjoy discounts on tours of Sri Lanka’s UNESCO World Heritage sites, beach resorts and the Elephant Orphanage in Pinnawella.
Find booking details on Travel Desk.
n Bond uncoveredThe Imperial War Museum London is hosting a major exhibition devoted to the life and work of the man who created the world’s most famous secret agent, James Bond.
The “For Your Eyes Only: Ian Fleming and James Bond” exhibition features fascinating material, much of it on display for the first time, including a selection of annotated Bond manuscripts, the “blood-splattered” shirt worn by Daniel Craig in Casino Royale and Halle Berry’s bikini from Die Another Day.
On show until 1 May – visit www.iwm.org.uk for details.
n Colonial CambodiaThe Renakse Hotel in Phnom Penh is a great choice for travellers looking for something midway between faceless international hotels and rough-and-ready guesthouses.
Oozing colonial charm, the hotel has one of the best locations in Cambodia’s capital, opposite the gates of the Royal Palace.
The Renakse offers rooms in the US$40-50 range, including breakfast. The downside is that not everything works as well as it should, and there’s no bar or restaurant on site. But that’s not a problem when the famous Foreign Correspondents’ Club is just a two-minute walk away!
SHOW US YOUR TIPS!CX World welcomes staff travel tips from across the network – email us at CCD#SCT
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Travel bites
A song of Africa
This month’s contribution was sent in by Cabin Crew Operations Support Manager Alvin Yuen who captured this shot of dawn breaking over the golf course opposite the crew hotel in Rome – the aptly named Sheraton Golf Hotel.
“It was the image of peace and tranquility that prompted me to take the shots,” Alvin says. “I knew I needed to capture the image very quickly otherwise it will be gone forever due to the changing environment.“
Alvin says it is nice for those of us living in a concrete jungle to witness the beauty of nature. “If I was to take a picture of the golf course in full daylight, it would not have projected the image of the morning calm where the mist and dew creates a mythical playground.”
An early riser, Alvin says the break of dawn is also a time to reflect on the day ahead. “In the photo you can see a little streak of sunlight by the horizon. This signifies a new day, a new beginning and a new challenge.”
HK$500 for a travel tale!Every month, CX World invites all CX staff to tell unusual, interesting or just downright quirky tales of travel moments around the world.
Sponsored by Inflight Sales, the lucky sender of the main story receives HK$500 worth of inflight sales products of their choice from the ever-changing collection of over 220 items on offer (excluding liquor and cigarettes).
Go shopping at www.cathaypacific.com/dutyfree
Snap happy
I have many South Africans friends, and the one thing that I’ve consistently been told was that South Africa is a beautiful country and I should go see it for myself. So over the Chinese New Year break this year, I went to a private game reserve called Phinda in South Africa.
When I saw my first glimpse of the animals, for reasons unknown to me, the soundtrack from the movie Out Of Africa kept playing repeatedly in my mind. And, quite unexpectedly, I was suddenly over-whelmed by a combination of a sense of peace and exhilaration at the same time.
Peace because the beautiful animals were feeding languidly in their breathtak-ing natural habitat, surrounded by land as far as the eye could see. And exhilara-tion because I was awash with a wave of emotion – I suddenly felt very fortunate to be able to see the animals as nature intended.
The experience at the safari was one of pure and absolute catharsis, and I’m sure I’ve returned a better person.
I am now convinced more than ever, that we must endeavour to protect the liv-ing environment of these animals for our future generations to behold, experience and treasure.
Company Medical Officer Chris Yeo found peace of mind among the wildlife while on safari in
South Africa
