Cathay Pacific : CX : CPA

Cathay Pacific Airways announced today the launch of its new service to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
The four-times weekly service is operated from Hong Kong to Jeddah via Dubai, using Airbus A330-300 aircraft in a two-class configuration.
Jeddah is Cathay Pacific's second destination in Saudi Arabia, following the launching of the service to Riyadh in 2001.

The prognosis for the airline industry is improving, but the industry is unlikely to return to the high growth rates of a few years ago anytime soon, says Cathay Pacific Airways CEO Tony Tyler.
"We are seeing things get slightly better but it is unlikely that things will be the same as in 2007," says Tyler at the Association of [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]' (AAPA) annual assembly of presidents in Singapore.
Cathay has a team looking into the carrier's business model to determine if it needs to be tweaked as a result of the economic crisis. One key issue being discussed, according to industry sources, is if the carrier needs to look at having more economy class seats, moving away from its high dependence on the premium travel market.
Tyler says that the study will be "completed very shortly", although he declines to provide early indications of what has been discussed.
"While the prognosis seems to be improving, we need to have a look at the resilience of the business model," says Tyler. "We will announce the details when we are ready."

La compagnie aérienne de Hong Kong, Cathay Pacific, a indiqué mercredi avoir connu une série d'incidents mystérieux sur les toilettes de plusieurs de ses Airbus, contraignant un appareil à un atterrissage non prévu.

Les toilettes de trois Airbus A330 et A340 ont connu des blocages inexpliqués au cours des deux dernières semaines, a indiqué à l'AFP Carolyn Leung, porte-parole de la compagnie, confirmant une information du quotidien South China Morning Post. Le 17 novembre, un appareil effectuant un vol entre Ryad (Arabie saoudite) et Hong Kong, avec 278 passagers, a dû faire un détour et se poser à Bombay (Inde). Peu après le décollage, l'équipage s'est aperçu que les 10 toilettes de l'avion ne fonctionnaient plus. Le vol, qui devait durer huit heures, est ainsi arrivé à Hong Kong avec un retard de 18 heures. Deux autres vols ont connu des incidents, l'un entre Rome et Hong Kong, le 9 novembre et l'autre entre Dubaï et Hong Kong le 19 novembre. Dans les deux cas, le nombre des passagers a dû être limité à moins de 240. L'équipage avait en effet découvert peu avant le décollage que seules la moitié des toilettes, situées sur un seul côté de l'appareil, fonctionnaient. Les causes exactes des incidents n'ont pas été déterminées, mais selon la porte-parole, ils pourraient s'expliquer en partie par le comportement des passagers. "Vous seriez étonnés de savoir ce que nous retrouvons dans les toilettes, des flacons de médicaments, des chaussettes, des vêtements et même des jouets d'enfants", a-t-elle indiqué. (SCM)

When it comes to competition in the skies, there is no fiercer contest than who has the best seat.
With only two main aircraft manufacturers in the world, airlines have to find other ways to differentiate themselves and claiming the longest, widest or most luxurious seat is a key battleground.
Virgin Atlantic, the pioneer of several improvements in seat design over the past 25 years, yesterday won the latest round in its fight to protect the exclusivity of its Upper Class seat.
Virgin spent £50 million designing its Upper Class product, which was introduced in 2003 and has been copied by rivals. Upper Class is Virgin’s equivalent of business and first class on other carriers.
The unusual Herringbone design was sold to other airlines by Contour, the Welsh seat manufacturer that built Virgin’s Upper Class product.
Virgin claimed that it owned the patent on the seat design and took Contour to court to stop it making any more copies. Virgin’s argument was initially rejected, but the Court of Appeal yesterday upheld the patent application. An injunction is likely to be filed against Contour to prevent it making any more of the seats.
Virgin is taking legal action against Delta, Air Canada and Jet Airways, which all bought the Herringbone seats from Contour. Cathay Pacific is facing legal action after buying similar seats from another manufacturer.
If Virgin’s legal action is successful, these airlines could be forced to strip their planes of the seats, which would be incredibly expensive as it can take months to refit a single plane.
It is thought that Virgin will press for an out of court settlement and lawyers said that Sir Richard Branson’s airline could be paid tens of millions of dollars in compensation.
Paul Charles, a spokesman for Virgin, said: “It has always been, and will remain, a key strategic objective of Virgin Atlantic to protect its intellectual property rights from misuse.”
The Herringbone design allows Virgin to fit a large number of seats into its Upper Class cabin because little space is wasted. The reclined seat folds down to create a fully flat bed.
Competition for premium passengers has intensified since the start of the recession as many companies have cut their travel budgets while holidaymakers are trading down.

Cathay Pacific Airways saw traffic rise 2% year-on-year in November, driven by demand for economy class travel.
Total RPKs rose 2% and total passengers rose 1.5% to 2 million, says the Oneworld carrier. The figures include those of subsidiary Dragonair.
Capacity, as measured by ASKs, fell 5.9% year-on-year. The passenger load factor rose 6.3 percentage points to 82%.
"Our overall passenger numbers saw a year-on-year rise in November, mainly driven by demand in our economy cabins," says Cathay Pacific general manager revenue management Tom Owen.
More passengers and reduced capacity pushed up load factors, he says. The carrier saw a "modest rise" in demand for its premium cabins, but volumes and yields are still "well below" those before the economic crisis of late 2008.
Cargo and freight tonne kilometers rose 3.8%. Significant reductions in capacity boosted cargo load factors, with cargo demand to North America and Europe particularly strong, says the carrier's general manager for cargo sales and marketing Titus Diu.
"However, we remain cautious about the outlook for demand after the current seasonal peak," says Diu.

Cathay Pacific Airways has posted a 1.6% growth in passenger traffic in January.
Total RPKs for January rose 1.6% from a year ago, says the airline. Cathay's traffic figures include those of subsidiary Dragonair. In terms of real numbers, the total number of passengers carried grew 0.4% to 2.1 million, adds Cathay.

Capacity, as measured in ASKs, fell 3.6%. As a result, the passenger load factor grew 4.3 percentage points to 83.8%, says Cathay."The improved load factor reflects the continuing pick-up in traffic from the lows of the financial crisis, led by our regional network," says the airline's general manager of revenue management Tom Owen.

"We were also encouraged to see premium passenger numbers growing, especially on long-haul routes, although there is still a very long way to go to get back to the volume and yield levels we enjoyed before the economic downturn," he adds.

In terms of cargo, freight tonne kilometers (FTKs) grew 25.7%, says Cathay.

"Direct comparisons with 2009 are distorted by the fact that our traffic volumes were being severely affected by the economic slump early last year," says Cathay's general manager cargo sales and marketing Titus Diu.

"However, the fact that we had roughly the same capacity as the previous January but an almost 16-point increase in load factor shows the extent to which traffic has bounced back," he adds.

Cathay Pacific Airways today released combined Cathay Pacific and Dragonair traffic figures for March
2010 that show a significant rise in passenger volumes and cargo and mail tonnage compared to the same month last year when the impact of the global downturn was being felt.

Last month, Cathay Pacific and Dragonair carried a total of 2,221,694 passengers – up 6% on March 2009.

The month’s passenger load factor was 85.7%, an increase of 6.6 percentage points, while capacity for the month, measured in available seat kilometres (ASKs), decreased by 1.6%.

For the first three months of 2010 combined, the number of passengers carried was up 6.4% compared to an ASK drop
of 1.6%.

The two airlines carried a total of 159,270 tonnes of cargo and mail last month, up 22.9% on March last year.

The cargo and mail load factor was 81.7%, a rise of 13.8 percentage points, while capacity, measured in available cargo/mail tonne kilometres, was up by 0.7%.
For the year to date, a tonnage rise of 24.1% compared to a capacity decline of 1.1%.

Boeing (NYSE: BA) and Cathay Pacific Airways celebrated Monday as the airline took delivery of its
75th airplane purchased directly from Boeing, a 777-300ER (Extended Range).

"The 777 allows us to economically offer non-stop service to the major gateways of the world," said John Slosar, chief operating officer, Cathay Pacific Airways. "The 777 has great passenger appeal, so it's really a core airplane for us. It has completely changed our business model over the last three years and enabled us to climb up strongly in the eyes of the traveling public."

The new airplane expands the airline's 777 fleet to 34 airplanes, which include 12 777-300s and five 777-200s.

SEVRIEN a écrit:Bonjour, et merci, Priscott.

Priscott a écrit:Oui Owitzer, on a vu :

[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]

HONG KONG—[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] Ltd. said Thursday it has stopped refueling its planes in Surabaya
as investigators probing Tuesday's dual-engine malfunction on a flight from the Indonesian city are looking at fuel quality as one of many possible factors causing the rare incident.

As a precaution, the Hong Kong-based airline said its Surabaya-Hong Kong flights will instead make a refueling stop in Jakarta pending clarification from the investigation by Hong Kong's civil aviation authorities.....

Mesure de précaution qui ne signifie pas encore grand chose à ce stade.

Oui !
En ce moment, je suis entouré par de vrais pilotes.
Ils ne donnent surtout pas dans le bla-bla que ce genre d'affaire suscite.

Sans parti-pris, ni volonté de stigmatiser qui que ce soit, ils disent, discrètement, qu'il va falloir que "les Autorités" commencent à se pencher énergiquement sur les risques de "fuel contamination", surtout dans cette partie du globe !

Cathay Pacific has stopped refuelling its aircraft in Surabaya, pending an investigation into why both engines on one of its [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]-300s experienced problems while en route from the Indonesian city.

The aircraft carried out a high-speed landing at Hong Kong on 13 April, with flight-data analysis showing the right-hand [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] powerplant had been at idle thrust during the entire approach while thrust on the left-hand engine had "frozen" at 70% of maximum.

This higher thrust setting on the left-hand engine resulted in a landing at 230kt (425km/h), with an incorrect flap configuration. The high-speed landing led six of the aircraft's tyres to deflate and, after receiving indications of flames from the heated landing gear, the crew ordered an evacuation of the aircraft via the slides.

Cathay says aircraft on its Surabaya-Hong Kong flights will refuel in Jakarta while investigations continue. "Our decision doesn't mean that any conclusion on this aspect of the investigation has been reached, only that Cathay Pacific feels that it is a prudent measure that needs to be implemented in the interests of its passengers and crew," says the airline.

Hong Kong's Civil Aviation Department has said that its investigation would look into areas such as the aircraft's systems, the possibility of human error, weather conditions and the quality of fuel, according to Hong Kong news reports. It has sent fuel samples from the aircraft for testing and is analysing the flight data recorders.
R-R declines to comment on the precise circumstances of incident, saying only that it is "working closely with our customer and the relevant authorities to assist them with the investigation".

Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering Company Limited (HAECO) has signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) with Cathay Pacific Airways Limited to provide long-term Inventory Technical Management (ITM) services for the airline’s fleet of ten new Boeing 747-8 Freighters, to be delivered between 2011 and 2013.

The ITM service is part of HAECO’s technical total-care management solutions, and the scope of the service will include asset management, reliability management, supply chain management, technical service, and comprehensive 24/7 Aircraft-on-Ground support.

The LOI records the joint intention of HAECO and Cathay Pacific to enter into a full contract framework prior to the Boeing 747-8Fs’ Entry-into-Service, and the agreement allows certain time-critical activities, such as inventory provisioning, to take place in parallel with the final stages of aircraft commissioning.

Cathay Pacific will also assist HAECO in establishing strategic partnerships with Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), enabling the company to act as an integrator to provide inventory technical management services on behalf
of the airline.

The efficiencies resulting from pooling inventory resources will give HAECO the competitive advantage to capture
additional third-party business opportunities for the Boeing 747-8 ITM service in the future.

“HAECO has been Cathay Pacific’s strategic partner in the provision of technical maintenance since the airline’s earliest days,” explains Augustus Tang, Chief Executive Officer of HAECO. “The Letter of Intent enables Cathay Pacific to further leverage HAECO’s unmatched engineering and component management resources.”

“This collaboration augurs well for HAECO’s long-term strategy to offer the ITM service as part of our total-care solution to our valued customers. It reinforces our position as a comprehensive maintenance and repair organisation (MRO) in Asia, and upholds Hong Kong’s position as the region’s premier aviation hub,” added Mr. Tang.

Anicet23 a écrit:Bonjour [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir cette image]

Le MSN 1004, A 330-200F proto a volé le 5 novembre 2009

Moteurs P&W série 4000

[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]

Cathay poised to place order for widebodies
[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] will shatter [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]'s [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] sales aspirations as it prepares for a widebody buying spree, with deals for long-range twinjets but no near-term plans to order the superjumbo.
The Hong Kong airline, which is a major [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] operator, has long been a target for Airbus's A380 salesmen. However, according to industry sources a request for proposals issued by Cathay in November centred on [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]/A350s and [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]/787s.
The airline is expected to finalise these orders this year, with one source suggesting that a decision will be made in June, ahead of the northern summer holidays.
Cathay chief executive Tony Tyler declines to comment on the RFP, citing commercial and confidentiality reasons, but confirms the airline "is evaluating new-generation [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] and Boeing 787 aircraft".

[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]

The Oneworld carrier needs new widebodies to cater for market growth and allow it to phase out older aircraft, say the sources. The carrier has also said publicly it wants to retire its ageing 777-200s although Tyler says the phase-out will not begin this year.
Cathay operates 20 747-400s, some of which are more than 20 years old, and Airbus and Boeing have been trying hard to secure deals to replace them with A380s or 747-8Is.
The airline was involved in the A380 programme from the start, taking part in early A3XX customer focus group meetings 15 years ago. Airbus remains bullish about the role that Cathay's main base will play in the ultra-large aircraft sector, forecasting that Hong Kong will be the largest hub for such aircraft over the next 20 years.
The airline is already a customer for the cargo version of the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], with 10 on order, but industry sources say Cathay has no near-term interest in ordering ultra-large passenger widebodies. One option could be to streamline its fleet by adding more 777-300ERs to replace the 747-400s.
Cathay already has a large [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] and [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] fleet, with [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] showing 32 and 17 aircraft, respectively. Orders for eight A330-300s and 13 777-300ERs (plus six options) are held. Deliveries of the A330s will start at year-end and conclude in 2013, says Cathay, when the last of the firm -300ER orders are also due.

[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] will shatter [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]'s [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] sales aspirations as it prepares for a widebody buying spree, with deals for long-range twinjets but no near-term plans to order the superjumbo.

The Hong Kong airline, which is a major [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] operator, has long been a target for Airbus's A380 salesmen. However, according to industry sources a request for proposals issued by Cathay in November centred on [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]/A350s and [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]/787s.

The airline is expected to finalise these orders this year, with one source suggesting that a decision will be made in June, ahead of the northern summer holidays.

Cathay chief executive Tony Tyler declines to comment on the RFP, citing commercial and confidentiality reasons, but confirms the airline "is evaluating new-generation [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] and Boeing 787 aircraft".

Cathay Pacific already operates 17 [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] 777-300ERs.

The Oneworld carrier needs new widebodies to cater for market growth and allow it to phase out older aircraft, say the sources. The carrier has also said publicly it wants to retire its ageing 777-200s although Tyler says the phase-out will not begin this year.

Cathay operates 20 747-400s, some of which are more than 20 years old, and Airbus and Boeing have been trying hard to secure deals to replace them with A380s or 747-8Is.

The airline was involved in the A380 programme from the start, taking part in early A3XX customer focus group meetings 15 years ago. Airbus remains bullish about the role that Cathay's main base will play in the ultra-large aircraft sector, forecasting that Hong Kong will be the largest hub for such aircraft over the next 20 years.

The airline is already a customer for the cargo version of the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], with 10 on order, but industry sources say Cathay has no near-term interest in ordering ultra-large passenger widebodies. One option could be to streamline its fleet by adding more 777-300ERs to replace the 747-400s.

Cathay already has a large [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] and [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] fleet, with [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] showing 32 and 17 aircraft, respectively. Orders for eight A330-300s and 13 777-300ERs (plus six options) are held. Deliveries of the A330s will start at year-end and conclude in 2013, says Cathay, when the last of the firm -300ER orders are also due.

Cathay Is in Talks to Buy Long-Range Jets, Shuns Super-Jumbos

Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd., Hong Kong’s biggest carrier, is in talks with Boeing Co. on buying 787 Dreamliner aircraft and with Airbus SAS on A350 jets as it seeks to enhance its cargo business.

Cathay Pacific will shun Airbus’s larger A380 superjumbo aircraft as well as Boeing’s 747-8, the biggest airliner the Chicago-based company has ever built, in favor of smaller long- range jets that are more suited to carrying cargo, Chief Executive Officer Tony Tyler said in an interview in Berlin.

The carrier said yesterday that it agreed to sell its 15 percent stake in Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering Co. to its biggest shareholder for HK$9.4 billion ($1.2 billion). The proceeds will help Cathay Pacific pay for 33 planes that it has ordered and is taking delivery of in the next four years.

“We’re talking to Boeing about 787s and Airbus about A350s,” Tyler said. “We have no plans at the moment to have a campaign on the A380 or on the 747-8 Intercontinental.”

The new planes will allow Cathay to add destinations and replace its A340 aircraft and Boeing 747-400 models, enhancing a route network that is being anchored by Boeing’s 777.

“It’s a great cargo carrier and has a huge belly and doesn’t have that many passengers,” the executive said. “The A380 doesn’t have such a huge belly, and you’ve got 500 plus passenger bags to accommodate.”



Cargo Terminal

Cathay has restarted work on a new cargo terminal in Hong Kong after suspending construction when demand for services shrank last year, Tyler said. The airline will also buy 49 percent of Air China Ltd.’s cargo unit as part of a joint venture with the Beijing-based carrier. The deal will probably receive Chinese regulatory approval within months, Tyler said.

“We’re a very big player in the international market, and the reason we’re a big player is that we sit in a very lively air cargo market,” said Tyler. “Cargo demand collapsed but it bounced back very well, very healthily and we fully believe in the long-term future as a business stream.”

Cathay Pacific Airways today released combined Cathay Pacific and Dragonair traffic figures for June 2010 that show significant year-on-year rises in both the number of passengers and amount of cargo and mail carried.


Cathay Pacific and Dragonair carried a total of 2,216,215 passengers in June – up 27.5% on the same month last year.

The passenger load factor was 85.4%, a rise of 8.6 percentage points, while capacity for the month, measured in available seat kilometres (ASKs), was up by 7.7%.

In the first half of 2010 the number of passengers carried was up by 8.5% compared to an ASK drop of 0.1%.

The two airlines carried a total of 148,520 tonnes of cargo and mail last month, up 19.9% on June last year.

The cargo and mail load factor was 75.4%, a rise of 4.1 percentage points, while capacity, measured in available cargo/mail tonne kilometres, was up by 19.2%.

In the first half of the year, tonnage rose by 24.4% compared to a capacity increase of 7.1%.

Cathay Pacific General Manager Revenue Management Tom Owen said: "Demand in June remained high in the build-up to the summer peak, as we continued to restore capacity that was cut in response to the huge downturn in business in 2009. We enjoyed increases in volumes and yields compared to the previous year across most routes.
Premium cabins saw a continuation of the pick-up off a low base in 2009, though volumes still remain below 2008 levels.

Overall, we expect to see strong demand throughout July and August, although we view the sustainability of the
current robust revenue trends towards the end of the year with a degree of caution.”

Cathay Pacific General Manager Cargo Sales & Marketing James Woodrow said: "We saw some softening in the market in June compared to previous months and the increase in tonnage was only just ahead of the increase in capacity for the month.
However, overall demand remained robust out of the key Hong Kong and Shanghai markets, particularly on transpacific
routes.
The Japan market has also been performing well. In terms of capacity, we have now brought back all parked freighters from the desert, though one Boeing Converted Freighter will transfer to the cargo joint venture with Air China in August.”