Cathay Pacific restoring connectivity, investing for superlative customer experience
Cathay Pacific, driven by a commitment to excellence, aspires to claim its position among the world's greatest service brands. Anand Yedery, Regional Head, Customer Travel and Lifestyle, South Asia, Middle East, and Africa, Cathay Pacific, articulates that the commitment to this vision is manifested through significant investments, introducing the latest aircraft, revolutionary cabin amenities, lavish lounges, enticing dining experiences, and a spectrum of entertainment options.
Cathay Pacific proudly represents Hong Kong as its home carrier, anchoring itself in the city for over 77 years. With the resurgence of major international events and a revitalised economy, Hong Kong has reclaimed its position on the global stage. As the city's home carrier, the airline’s mission is to be a catalyst, seamlessly linking Hong Kong, the Greater Bay Area, and the Chinese Mainland to the rest of the world. In response to the recovery of global connectivity, the airline is swiftly restoring its flights to meet customer demands. Their ongoing efforts include the progressive expansion of passenger flight capacity and the addition of more frequencies, especially to key destinations like the Chinese Mainland, the US, South Asia, and Japan.
Reuniting the Global Community
In 2024, Cathay Pacific’s steadfast commitment to reconnecting the world remains resolute. Anand says, “Having successfully reinstated 70 per cent of our pre-pandemic passenger flights, spanning approximately 80 destinations by December 2023, our focus now extends to meeting the burgeoning demand for post-pandemic travel. Our primary emphasis has been on facilitating travel for both Hong Kong residents and visitors to the city. Projections indicated that by the end of 2023, we should have reached 95 per cent of pre-pandemic passenger numbers in these two key travel directions. As we further rebuild, we will add more transit traffic via the Hong Kong hub. Further, we resume our operations from Colombo and Chennai to Hong Kong on February 2, 2024, after a hiatus of four years. In 2024, we shall continue to work towards fully rebuilding our flights.”
Achieving Ever-Higher Service Standards
At Cathay Pacific, they recognise, celebrate, and empower their people for quality service delivery and performance. The airline is committed to ever-higher service levels through evolving culture, upskilling people, improving the customer experience, and upgrading tools and technology. There is a digital experience journey through the next-generation Asia Miles platform to position Cathay at the gateway of premium lifestyle experiences. They are also constantly revamping and resourcing customer engagement channels to continually improve service levels—web, mobile, ground, and in the air. Anand also highlights some substantial investments and developments, marking a pivotal era for Cathay Pacific.
Investing in Redefining In-Flight Comfort
The airline purchased 32 Airbus A321neo and A320neo aircraft. As a group comprising Cathay Pacific and HK Express, the new aircraft deliveries will total up to more than 70 aircraft. Adding state-ofthe-art, fuel-efficient aircraft enables them to continue growing their network and connecting their customers with more flights and destinations.
Presently, Cathay has brought back its first-class service on selected flights: London Heathrow, Paris, Tokyo (Haneda), Los Angeles, and Beijing. The airline is excited to bring its customers an all-new business-class experience—the Aria Suite—in the second quarter of 2024 as part of redesigning its long-haul Boeing 777-300ER cabins. This will be followed by a new world-leading first-class experience onboard their 777-9 aircraft, the first of which is scheduled to join the fleet in 2025.
Lounges: Comfort and Hospitality
As they add more flights, the airline has reopened the majority of their global lounges. The new Cathay Pacific lounge at Shekou Ferry Terminal in Shenzhen opened in November 2023. The airline's first-ever lounge at a ferry terminal provides an enhanced travel experience for customers travelling from the Greater Bay Area via ferry codeshare and connecting onto Cathay Pacific flights at Hong Kong International Airport.
Coveted Inflight Dining and Entertainment
The airline is known to churn out new culinary delights for customers from time to time. In 2023, the airline launched new partnerships with Hong Kong-based brands like Michelinstarred local restaurant Duddell’s, a plantforward restaurant VEDA to bring customers a new contemporary range of plant-based dishes, and Italian restaurant Pirata, serving timeless Italian dishes.
Cathay Pacific has received the award for World’s Best Inflight Entertainment and is back in the top 10 of the world’s best airlines in a number of industry rankings. They are also the first airline in Asia-Pacific to bring Disney+ Original titles to the skies.