Exhibiting at CIIE for the first time, Cathay Pacific Group CEO explains how to rebuild a new Cathay Pacific

"Cathay Pacific is now focused on rebuilding a new Cathay Pacific, an international local brand that our employees, passengers, partners and Hong Kong can be proud of. ”

Recently, Cathay Pacific Group Chief Executive Officer Lin Shaobo, who is participating in the CIIE for the first time, accompanied the Cathay Pacific Group delegation to the service trade exhibition area of the CIIE, and comprehensively demonstrated the company's four major business segments of "premium tourism, low-cost passenger transport, freight transport and lifestyle", as well as the development highlights and innovative measures in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and green and low-carbon fields.

The above four business segments are also an important starting point for Lin Shaobo to "rebuild a new Cathay Pacific". "Cathay Pacific is in the process of reconstruction, and hopes to take its participation in the CIIE as a fulcrum to further expand its 'circle of friends' in the mainland, give full play to its unique advantages of 'rooted in Hong Kong, backed by the motherland, and connected to the world', actively integrate into the overall development of the country, and contribute to the country's expanded opening up and high-quality economic development. Lin Shaobo said.

"Greater Bay Area investment to be doubled"

"During the pandemic, we have made some reforms and set some directions, hoping to rebuild a stronger Cathay Pacific than before. In an exclusive interview with Yicai during the Expo, Lin Shaobo said that to this end, Cathay Pacific Group will deepen its business areas and set future goals.

Cathay Pacific will become one of the world's most prominent airlines in the premium travel sector, HK Express will become Asia's best practice low-cost carrier in the leisure and travel sector, Cathay Pacific Cargo will become the world's best cargo airline brand in terms of passenger importance, and Cathay Pacific Freight, which will be linked by Asia Miles, Cathay Pacific's frequent flyer membership system, will become a premium travel lifestyle brand for travellers.

Based on the positioning and goals of the above four sectors, Lin Shaobo condensed the future development direction of Cathay Pacific into 12 words: rooted in Hong Kong, backed by the motherland, and connected to the world.

"As a Hong Kong-registered and Hong Kong-based airline, we have become more mature in Hong Kong and have reached the top 10 in the world in terms of connecting to the world (SKYTRAX is in the top 10 of the world's best airlines), and now we need to further strengthen our efforts to deepen our efforts in the mainland market, especially in the Greater Bay Area. As one of the most dynamic and open regions in the country, the Greater Bay Area has become the place with the most potential for global economic development, and Cathay Pacific regards the Greater Bay Area as an extended market to accelerate the pace of deepening its development in the mainland.

In recent years, Cathay Pacific has made frequent moves in the Greater Bay Area. For example, Cathay Pacific is the first airline in the Greater Bay Area to implement cross-border air-sea intermodal codeshare, in addition to operating direct flights between Guangzhou and Hong Kong, it also has codeshare cooperation with clippers and cross-border buses, allowing passengers to check-in and baggage at the eight major terminals in the Pearl River Delta, directly to Hong Kong International Airport, and then to the rest of the world via Cathay Pacific's global route network.

"In the Greater Bay Area, we aim to be the first choice for passengers travelling to and from the Greater Bay Area, both in terms of high-end and low-cost international passenger transport, and will double our investment in the Greater Bay Area in the future," said Lam, adding that the core is to provide passengers in the Greater Bay Area with a variety of convenient and reliable sea, land and air transport services, so that passengers can seamlessly connect to Cathay Pacific or HK Express flights at Hong Kong International Airport.

It is understood that in July last year, Cathay Pacific set up a headquarters office in the Greater Bay Area in Shenzhen, and in May this year, with the entry into Pazhou Port in Guangzhou, Cathay Pacific Airways has provided one-stop sea-air intermodal transport services covering eight major terminals in the Greater Bay Area. Not long ago, Cathay Pacific Airways also started trial operation of the VIP lounge set up at the home port of China Merchants Shekou Cruise in Shenzhen, becoming the first airline in the world to set up a VIP lounge outside the airport.

Lin Shaobo revealed that in addition to expanding multimodal transport services in terms of shipping, the company is also working hard to make the intermodal transport of passengers in the Greater Bay Area to Hong Kong Airport more convenient by land, such as taking a car through the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge to the restricted area of Hong Kong Airport without entry, which requires more investment and work on related infrastructure and baggage handling processes, and doing a good job in the infrastructure and services of sea, land and air intermodal transport is an important measure to gain more passenger recognition and build the preferred airline for international travel in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

What is the basis for rebuilding the mainland network?

In addition to the Greater Bay Area, increasing the capacity of flights to the mainland is also the direction of efforts to rebuild the new Cathay Pacific.

"Chinese mainland is one of Cathay Group's most important markets. We currently operate more than 180 pairs of flights per week to 17 destinations in 16 cities in the Mainland, making us the non-Mainland airline providing the largest number of outbound flights, with one or more daily flights to 10 cities in the Mainland, including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Chengdu, Xiamen, Fuzhou, Qingdao, Nanjing and Wuhan. "We are still working hard to rebuild and strengthen flights to and from the mainland, and we expect to reach close to 300 pairs of flights per week in the near future." ”

It is understood that at present, Cathay Pacific Group mainly through Cathay Pacific to expand the route between the mainland and Hong Kong, however, its low-cost airline Hong Kong Express, has also determined the plan to fly to Hong Kong to Beijing Daxing Airport early next year, at present, Hong Kong Express is operating round-trip passenger flights between Hong Kong and Ningbo.

"In the future, we will vigorously develop the mainland network according to the positioning of the whole group, with China Thai Airways focusing on high-end travel, and Hong Kong Express will choose some young leisure cities to open routes. Lin Shaobo said that with the increase in the route network, followed by the increase in personnel demand, "a lot of manpower was lost during the epidemic, and this year we are also trying to rebuild the manpower of various aviation departments, through recruitment and training, I hope to really complete the rebuilding of personnel in the coming year." ”

In order to promote the rebuilding of the network and better serve the mainland market, Cathay Pacific also launched the "Mainland Talent Recruitment Scheme" for the first time, and held a recruitment of mainland flight attendants in Shenzhen in August.

"Previously, our flight attendants were mainly from Hong Kong, China and other Asian countries, and we expect to recruit 200 to 300 mainland flight attendants this year, and we will continue to recruit trainee pilots and information technology personnel in the mainland, and we expect that by 2025, the total number of mainland talent recruitment will reach about 4,000, and the mainland will also become the largest source of flight attendants outside Hong Kong." Lin Shaobo said that in the future, these flight attendants recruited by the mainland will not only fly mainland flights, but will also participate in flights around the world, so that mainland passengers can fly to the world via Hong Kong.

Cathay Pacific currently offers in-flight announcements in English, Cantonese and Mandarin on flights from Hong Kong to the Mainland, and cabin attendants' name tags will clearly indicate the languages in which they are available, including Mandarin and other Asian languages. Flight attendants are also encouraged to learn Mandarin, and cabin crew members who speak more than one Asian language receive a new monthly allowance.

In addition, the measures to deepen the cultivation of the mainland are also reflected in more products. For example, in-flight entertainment has more films suitable for mainland passengers, and for example, providing passengers with authentic and delicious "Hong Kong-style taste" food is also an important part, and the "Hong Kong-style taste" launched on mainland Hong Kong flights includes claypot rice and egg tarts, which are very suitable for the taste of Chinese.

How to meet the challenges of the future

Globally, Cathay Pacific Group has recovered nearly 80 destinations, reaching 70% of pre-pandemic levels, and will return to 100% levels as soon as possible.

The three-runway system at the Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) is expected to commence trial operation in the middle of next year and officially open at the end of next year, which will greatly increase the airport's passenger and cargo handling capacity, which is a new opportunity for Cathay Pacific to better serve as a Hong Kong aviation hub, and of course a challenge to increase competition. Lin Shaobo pointed out that in recent years, Cathay Pacific has also actively deployed its fleet and products to cope with competition, including ordering new aircraft, and is expected to receive 70 new aircraft in the next few years, and increasing investment in cabins and VIP lounges, and will launch newly designed first and business class cabins in the next two years, including the redesign of the cabin of the ultra-long-haul Boeing 777-300ER fleet, which will start to bring customers a new business class experience in 2024, and will begin to receive 777-9 passenger aircraft in 2025, introducing a new design, The world's leading first-class cabin.

The order for new, more fuel-efficient aircraft is also an important step in Cathay Pacific's efforts to address the decarbonisation challenges facing the aviation industry.

Cathay Pacific Group has pledged to reach net-zero carbon emissions by mid-century, making it one of the first airlines in Asia to set a carbon neutrality timetable.

The use of more fuel-efficient modern aircraft and sustainable jet fuels is the most important means to achieve carbon neutrality. As a pioneer in the field of sustainable jet fuel, Cathay Pacific has set a comprehensive roadmap for net-zero carbon emissions and a sustainable jet fuel target, and has committed to increasing its sustainable jet fuel use to 10% of its total fuel consumption by 2030.

To achieve this, the company has been deploying since 2014 and became the first airline to invest in Fulcrum BioEnergy, a US-based SAF manufacturer, committing to purchase 1.1 million metric tons of SAF over a 10-year period. In 2022, the plant successfully produced the first batch of low-carbon synthetic crude oil made from municipal solid waste.

"In addition to investing in sustainable jet fuel manufacturers in the U.S., we are also looking at different (sustainable jet fuel) supplies around the world, and the current market chain is not mature enough, and the price of sustainable jet fuel is three times more expensive than current fuel, which requires the joint efforts of governments, oil companies, aircraft manufacturers, airports and other actors. Lin Shaobo stressed that China has done a lot of work in this area, and believes that there will be breakthroughs in the development and mass production of sustainable aviation fuel in the future.

It is understood that as early as 2021, Cathay Pacific and other airlines jointly established the Aviation Climate Task Force and became its founding member, hoping to use this platform to track and promote cutting-edge technologies that can achieve carbon neutrality in the aviation industry, such as "electric oil" technology, direct air carbon capture technology, hydrogen aircraft and electric aircraft.

In March this year, Cathay Pacific also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with, which brings together's strengths in new energy production and Cathay Pacific's expertise as the world's leading end-user of sustainable jet fuel to help decarbonise the aviation industry.

At the CIIE booth, Cathay Pacific Airways set up an interactive demonstration device to demonstrate the sustainable jet fuel process. The audience can put the municipal waste into the recycling bin, and understand and experience the whole process of collection, sorting, transformation and delivery by pressing the button.

In terms of end-use applications, Cathay Pacific has already started using SAF at Hong Kong International Airport, using hundreds of tonnes of SAF in 2022 and bunkering commercial flights overseas for the first time in June 2023. The company also spearheaded the launch of Asia's first "Corporate Sustainable Aviation Fuel Initiative", providing professional and efficient solutions for corporate customers to reduce their carbon footprint.

In addition, Cathay Pacific is the first airline in Asia to offer carbon offsetting services, and since 2007 has launched the "Fly Blues" program, which provides a platform for individual travellers and corporate customers to voluntarily pay cash or mileage credits to offset the carbon emissions of their flights. In August 2022, the company extended the project to air cargo. Currently, two of the four carbon reduction projects funded by the "Fly Blues" project are located in Chinese mainland, including a biodegrader project in rural Sichuan and a solar cooker project in Henan.