printed on 100% recycled paper the pain is...
TRANSCRIPT
a plunge in cargo markets, and weak currencies working against us. We have already taken a number of measures to preserve our business, but the extent of this global downturn means we have to take more.
Now, more than ever before, we need to stick together and work together as a team. As someone said to me when we announced the measures to our sta� , “We are all in the same boat now – and we have to keep that boat a� oat”. That sums up the situation perfectly.
That’s why are now cutting capacity at both CX and Dragonair and introducing the Special Leave Scheme for all sta� . This scheme
Great moments capturedService at heart of new campaign
news
Sporting showcase a winner for airline
PamperedweekendExploring Taipei’s many delights
travel
Magnifi centSevens!
features
James shines at Crystal Cabin Awards
Winning ways
who, what, where
Page 5 Page 8-9 Page 14 Page 16
The pain is sharedSpecial Leave Scheme and capacity reductions to help preserve cash in downturn
Page 14
A magazine for staff and friends of Cathay Pacifi c Airways
PRINTED ON 100% RECYCLED PAPER
April 2009, Issue 157 A magazine for staff and friends of Cathay Pacifi c Airways
Message from the Chief ExecutiveThere is now no doubt that we are going through one of the most di� cult times in our history. Cathay Paci� c is a great airline but I’m afraid it’s become a bad business as we reel from the impact of the current global � nancial meltdown. We had no choice but to make di� cult decisions – cutting our capacity and introducing a Special Leave Scheme for sta� – that will help us to preserve cash and strengthen our business during these turbulent times.
Of course we have been through turbulent times before – the Asian � nancial crisis, 9/11, SARS and a period of extraordinary fuel prices – but the current situation is
di� erent. And it’s much worse than anything we’ve previously faced.
The Asian � nancial crisis was probably the most comparable to the current downturn, but it was limited to Asia. Our revenue in 1998 – the � rst full year after that crisis struck – was down 13 per cent and we had to take some pretty drastic measures. It’s much worse today – nearly a 23 per cent revenue drop in the � rst quarter this year – and it’s not getting better.
What we are up against now is something of a perfect storm. Our revenue has dropped sharply as a result of our front-end business disappearing, very low yields in the back forced by intense competition,
will be a key component of our cost-saving drive and I urge all sta� join hands with us to make it as e� ective as possible. We have tried to make the scheme as fair and as equitable as possible, and whatever level you are in the company, anyone senior to you will be taking more of the pain. That works right to the very top.
We need to take all the steps we can to improve our business. Unless and until we’ve done that, we won’t get help from anyone else. We’re currently going to our suppliers, service providers, airports, manufacturers, governments and other outside organisations for help, so we have to demonstrate that � rst of all we’re doing everything we
possibly can to help ourselves. The measures we are taking will
not make the company bullet-proof from further damage but I hope it will be enough for now. However, if our revenue situation does get worse then more may be needed. I sincerely hope it doesn’t come to that.
I would like to thank every member of our team for how you have responded to the challenges so far, and I promise that the sacri� ces we’re making now will be remembered long after we’re back again to being both a great airline and a great business.
Tony TylerChief Executive
Cathay Paci� c unveiled a range of measures on 17 April aimed at fur-ther reining in costs as the global economic crisis continues to erode revenues.
Following a statement that its turnover for the � rst quarter of 2009 was down 22.4 per cent on the same period last year, the airline an-nounced two major cost-reduction initiatives – a cutting of overall ca-pacity for both CX and Dragonair together with a Special Leave Scheme for the sta� of both carriers.
“We have no option but to take measures that will help us weather the current storm and maintain the long-term sustainability of the busi-ness,” Chief Executive Tony Tyler said, explaining how a “toxic combina-tion” of low fares, a big drop in premium travel, weak cargo loads, poor yields and a negative currency impact was making it more important than ever to preserve cash.
The capacity reductions will see the airline reduce passenger ASKs by 8 per cent and overall cargo capacity by 11 per cent from May, while sister airline Dragonair will see a 13 per cent cut in passenger capacity.
Under the Special Leave Scheme, all sta� will be asked to take unpaid leave of one to four weeks, depending on seniority, over a 12-month period from 1 May 2009 to 30 April 2010.
Top management and senior sta� asked are being asked to contrib-ute more. Tony, along with Chairman Chris Pratt and Chief Operating O� cer John Slosar, will forego their 2008 bonuses.
“The pain will be shared from the top down. Support from all sta� is essential,” says Tony.
• Full story – pages 2 and 3
TOUGH TIMES: Tony Tyler (right) and John Slosar at a press briefi ng on the cost-cutting measures.
COST-CUTTING MEASURES
Passengers are still fl ying – can revenue really be that bad?Chief Operating O� cer John Slosar answers CX World questions about the current business situation.
Over the past couple of weeks CX has been carrying 55-60,000 passengers a day – is our business really as bad as we’re being told it is?First of all, it’s a good thing that our loads are still high. One of the things we set out to do when we knew things were getting di� cult was to make sure we didn’t � y empty planes around the network – we went aggressively into the market to get passengers. The problem is that the fares have dropped precipitously.
I agree that 60,000 passengers a day looks like a big number but you have to look at quality. If you look at those passengers, a lot fewer than before are premium travellers – our front-end loads are down by about 30 per cent in recent weeks with revenue down even more. And remember that, on average, to replace the revenue of
one front-end passenger you need somewhere between � ve and eight in Economy Class.
Meanwhile, with � erce competi-tion in the marketplace, in order to attract more back-end passengers the fares have been falling signi� -cantly. Our yield trend is dropping out of sight because everyone is competing over passengers. Just look at the newspapers to see what fantastic fare deals are out there.
But some people said they were still paying high fares over Easter.At super-peak times one of our great strengths has always been revenue management – we know there will be more passengers than seats so we manage our revenue to get the most we can out of the situation. That applies for a few days over Easter and Chinese New Year, but for the rest of the past few months it hasn’t applied very often.
How come, if things are so bad, the front-end is still quite full on many � ights?Well, in order to make sure we’re
using Economy to maximum e� ect we’re overbooking a bit more aggressively – and that leads to more passengers being upgraded. Also, a lot more people are using miles for upgrades because it’s easier to do when loads are lower.
Why are we also being told that “currencies are working against us”?If you compare currencies now with where they were a year ago then we see the Australian dollar and British pound down by 20-30 per cent, the euro down 20 per cent, and the won down 40 per cent. So we have a situation where passengers may be paying lower fares in local currencies, and then we lose again when those currencies are translated to Hong Kong dollars.
Will the fact that many carriers are now cutting capacity help to force prices back up?There have not been as many capacity cuts as we hoped, particularly to and from Hong Kong. Also, in this part of the world
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Sta� packed into the Auditorium at Cathay City on 17 April to hear Tony Tyler and John Slosar give brie� ngs on how the airline was going to deal with one of the biggest challenges it has ever faced.
Full details of the measures appeared on IntraCX soon after with sta� � nding out about sub-stantial capacity cuts at both Cathay Paci� c and Dragonair, along with a Special Leave Scheme which
Preserving cash the priorityall employees at both carriers – in Hong Kong and overseas – are being asked to participate in.
Capacity reductionsThe airline conducted a very thorough review of every route and � ight operated by both Group airlines to assess where money was draining away.
CX will see a reduction in � ight frequencies or seat capacity to London, Paris, Frankfurt, Sydney,
Singapore, Bangkok, Seoul, Taipei, Tokyo, Mumbai and Dubai, e� ective from May (see opposite).
The CX passenger cut totals 8 per cent while Dragonair will see a 13 per cent reduction.
KA services to Bengaluru, Busan, Sanya and Shanghai will be reduced and services to Fukuoka, Dalian, Shenyang, Guilin and Xian will be suspended.
For cargo there will be a reduction of 11 per cent in available tonne kilometres while the weekly freighter frequency will fall to 84 � ights, compared to 124 a week during the 2008 peak.
Aircraft deploymentThe airline is negotiating the sale of � ve aircraft and will park two more of its Boeing 747-400BCF freighters – taking the total to � ve. One more BCF is being wet-leased to Air Hong Kong.
Special Leave SchemeEvery member of the team is now being asked to participate in the Special Leave Scheme as part of the drive to cut costs. Top management and senior sta� are being asked to contribute the most.
“Whatever level you are in the company, anyone more senior to you will be taking more of the pain – and that goes right to the very top,” says Tony Tyler.
The four-tiered scheme is de� ned by di� erent sta� levels, ranging from one week’s leave for Level A sta� to four weeks for Level D and above (see table above).
Sta� consent for the Special Leave Scheme is being sought up to 30 April and those who join the scheme will have their salary deducted over a six-month period from June to November 2009.
Directors and General Managers will be part of the scheme. In addition Chairman Christopher
“The state of the airline industry today is grim,” International Air Transport Association (IATA) Director General Giovanni Bisignani said last month as the organisation raised its estimate on the extent of losses in the aviation industry this year.
IATA now believes the recession will wipe out US$63 billion of revenue industry-wide and that losses may total US$4.7 billion in 2009 – almost 90 per cent higher than previously estimated.
Airlines are responding rapidly – and dramatically – to the changing environment in which passenger tra� c is likely to drop 5.7 per cent and cargo tra� c by 13 per cent in 2009. IATA says industry capacity may shrink 6 per cent in 2009 and airlines around the world are now taking drastic steps to deal with the business slump:
QantasAustralia’s national airline posted a severe pro� t warning this month and announced plans to remove 500 management jobs and a further 1,250 sta� from its 34,000-strong workforce.
Singapore AirlinesSQ will take 17 aircraft out of service for at least a year and slash capacity. Pilots have been asked to take up to four days’ no-pay leave every month, and 1,400 other employees have already volunteered to take no-pay leave.
Air FranceAir France-KLM reported losses amounting to 194 million euros (HK$1.96 billion) in the last quarter of 2008. Air France will cut up to 3,000 jobs over the next two years, on top of some 1,000 jobs already shed in the past 12 months.
British AirwaysAs losses mount, the UK carrier has asked its 13,500 � ight attendants to accept a reduction in annual leave to 34 days from 36, a two-year pay freeze and a reduction in long-haul bonuses.
Pratt, Tony Tyler and John Slosar will forego their 2008 bonuses, while bonuses paid this year for other senior managers are being substantially reduced.
“Unlike many of our competitors, we get no government � nancial support or subsidy. We must make our own way as a commercial airline, so preserving cash is the key,” says Tony.
“Cash is king – without cash a business can’t operate. We are not going to let that happen to our great airline but that means we can’t carry on as we are,” he says.
“That’s why we’re putting these measures in place and I ask for the support of our whole team.”
Sta� Level
ABC
D+
Headcount(HK-based)
8,964 (65.6%)2,171 (15.9%)1,564 (11.5%)
965 (7.0%)
Special Leave in weeks
1234
Salary deduction per month over
six-month period
3.84%7.69%
11.53%15.38%
A Level A sta� earning HK$10,000 a month will be asked to take less than half a working day o� every month over a 12-month period. His or her monthly salary will be deducted by HK$384 over a six-month period.
An industry in crisis
SOBER MOMENT: Staff listen intently at briefi ngs on the new measures.
Is the Special Leave Scheme acceptable?
I think the scheme is very reasonable and much better than I imagined was going to be
announced.Stella Chan, AHQ
The way the contribution from sta� is being shared out is good, with the impact
on Level A and B being limited. It is better than I expected.
Jeff Lam, PNL
I’m glad it cleared up all the rumours which have been going around. It’s not
as drastic as expected though it came with a warning that there could be more to come.
Cedric Visschers, KA FOP
I think it’s okay, especially in these di� cult times, and it’s about what I expected. I
did think no-pay leave would be required and now it’s been con� rmed.
Vashti Tang, KA ISD
They are sensible and practical options and it has to be done. It’s a better
solution than the other options available.
Justin Murray, IAF
It’s fair given the economic climate and the fact that other airlines are laying
people o� . The company seems to be looking after sta� and emphasising sticking it out together.
Nelson Chin, PLN
The message delivered was very clear. The Special Leave Scheme is more � exible than the
rumours I heard.Evelyn Yiu, SEC
COST-CUTTING MEASURES
Passengers are still fl ying – can revenue really be that bad?
you have a lot of state-sponsored airlines who can get government support to keep � ying, even if they are not doing well. We can’t do that at Cathay Paci� c.
What else can we do to shore up our passenger business?Right now, trying to get capacity and demand balanced is the most important thing.
However, we also need to make sure we continue to attract customers to Cathay Paci� c. Now
more than ever we need passengers get o� our � ights and say, “That was a really good � ight – the service was great, the product was great, and I’ll be back on Cathay Paci� c again”.
Cargo seems to be hit particularly hard – what’s happened to the market?Southern China, our backyard, has been the manufacturing centre of the world for the past decade and clearly the world has been running down its inventory for manufactured goods. It’s not much more complicated than that. With the weak economy, retailers everywhere are cutting back inventory which has meant fewer orders here, and that in turn means a lot less air cargo. I don’t really see that turning around until the world economy begins to pick up.
In all the other crises cargo carried the airline through – what’s di� erent this time is that we’re being hit by a combination of passenger and cargo drops. That’s what makes this crisis much more
di� cult and di� erent from previous ones.
Why are we still launching new cargo routes?We’re always on the lookout for new business opportunities and in a couple of cases – the new service to Miami/Houston and additional � ights to Milan – our market studies said that even in a di� cult economic environment we will be able to make a go of it.
In a di� cult market there are challenges but also opportunities. We are trying to positively build our business – but at the same time cut back where we’re not making money.
Similarly with new aircraft – why are we still taking deliveries?Most of the deliveries have been contracted for some time back. We have rescheduled some already, and we’re actively working to reschedule some others to help us through the current di� cult times. In general we � nance our aircraft so it doesn’t cost us cash. We are now looking at
various options such as taking the new aircraft and selling o� some of the older ones or returning leased aircraft.
Will the cost-saving measures just announced be enough? We certainly hope so. What we’re trying to do is deal with the situation as best as we can see it. If the downturn doesn’t end this year it will make it even more important to prepare for the worst. We are trying to everything we can to keep the airline going and keep doing positive things – but at the same time we don’t want to unduly burden sta� by asking for more than we need.
Is there any sign of a recovery?Quite honestly, no. Things went downhill very quickly, and there is no sign of any upturn as yet. So we will continue to respond to the environment as we see it. If the climate changes then we may have to change our plan going forward, but for now we are doing what we think is appropriate.
Projects necessary ‘to keep customers coming back’Planned CX passenger fl ight reductions*
• London – Ad hoc cancellations of 17 round trips in May and more are likely in June upon further review.
• Paris – Cut 7 round trips o� the twice-daily service in May. Plans to cut down to 10 � ights per week from June to the end of August, then daily from September, subject to changes in accordance with demand.
• Frankfurt - Cut 9 round trips o� the 10-� ights a week service in May. From June, cut 3 weekly services to make a daily service.
• Sydney – Cut 1 � ight daily to 3 � ights per day.• Singapore – Cut 10 � ights weekly to 32 � ights per week.• Bangkok – Cut 4 � ights weekly to 31 � ights per week.• Seoul – Cut 1 � ight daily to 4 � ights per day.• Taipei – ad hoc cancellations.• Tokyo/Taipei – Downgraded to an A330 (311 seats) from a 747 (379 seats).• Mumbai/Dubai – Downgraded to an A330 with the new cabin products
(264 seats) from a 747 (379 seats).
Additions• Denpasar – Add 4 � ights weekly to existing daily � ight from July to
September. • Sapporo – Add 3 � ights weekly to become daily in July/August• Bahrain/Riyadh – Add 3 � ights weekly to become a daily service from
August
Planned CX cargo fl ight reductions*• Weekly frequency down to 84 from the 2008 peak of 124
The following reductions are compared with the 2008 peak• Europe (via Middle East or India): to 22 � ights per week from 32 • North America – to 26 � ights per week from 31• Australia – to 2 � ights per week from 3• Mainland China - to 15 � ights per week from 23, mainly Shanghai, Beijing,
Xiamen• North Asia – to 10 � ights per week from 20, mainly Osaka, Taipei,• S.E. Asia – to 3 � ights per week from 9, mainly Penang, Jakarta, Ho Chi
Minh City
* Subject to change
Despite the current di� culties fac-ing the airline, COO John Slosar says there is a need to push ahead with certain projects that will add value in the long term.
“A lot of capital expenditure has already been deferred – that was a necessary element of our cost-sav-ing drive,” says John.
“However, we still have to keep positive things happening in the air-line and at the moment we’re trying to do things that don’t cost us much, if anything at all, but will help to give customers a reason to continue � ying with Cathay Paci� c.”
Many of the projects identi� ed as part of the recent strategy review are important whether business is good or bad, says John.
“These projects don’t need much, if any, expenditure – they’re about us doing things di� erently and do-ing them better,” he says.
“The fact that the business situ-ation is di� cult doesn’t mean we don’t need to do them. In fact it makes all the more important that we do do them.”
The rollout of the long-haul cab-ins will continue as planned, as will other projects that have a positive impact on either revenue-genera-tion or the customer experience.
“Our ‘New Ways of Working’ [NWoW] project, for example, was originally a very large and inno-
vative computer project, most of which has now been deferred,” says John.
“But there’s one important piece of it – computer infrastructure which supports most of our key strategic projects, including e-business, and will help us service passengers bet-ter – that we have to do.”
Doing e-business will help the airline generate more revenue, “but if don’t do this part of the NWoW project we really can’t expand our e-business at all – we’d actually lose money because we couldn’t do what we want to do,” he says.
Similarly, the project to introduce new uniforms for cabin crew and ground sta� is going ahead with a planned introduction date in 2011.
“We are only planning to replace uniforms when they come up in the replacement cycle,” says John. “We will not discard any uniforms early, so the cost is virtually nothing.”
John stresses it’s necessary for the airline to take steps to improve itself at the same time as money has to be saved.
“That’s how we generate prog-ress in the airline – our customers can see we’re still doing things and not degrading our product o� ering,” he says. “We always have to give customers a reason to take Cathay Paci� c and Dragonair the next they � y.”
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FALLING YIELDS: John Slosar.
4
Freight expectationsHouston and Miami launch gives cargo boost in midst of downturnThe launch of the new freighter service to Miami and Houston re-ceived good publicity in the US last month, with the Mayor of Houston declaring 6 March “Cathay Pacific Cargo Day” and a CX freighter ap-pearing on the huge PR Newswire screen in New York’s Times Square under the heading “George Bush Intercontinental Airport welcomes cargo growth”.
The services were launched as a strategic move to unlock oppor-tunities in less-contested markets – “extremely important amidst this
Margaretha Laseen, Cargo Manager Western, Central & South America
What are your main responsibili-ties? My job is to keep the stations I am responsible for running – safely, smoothly and, of course, profitably.
That means looking into everything from sales and marketing to staff, operations and services.
I work with many ports including Los Angeles, Dallas, Houston and Miami plus Latin America.
My “family” has grown now to include Miami and Houston which is a challenge for all of us. The main con-nection to and from South and Central America is Miami so the decision to open that station has made a differ-ence in how we do business.
With Miami, CX Cargo has a pres-ence not only in the US but also in Latin America through our interline partners.
What happens on a typical day? What I do is different every day as it involves many interesting and some-times challenging matters.
This is especially true now when we are seeing a downturn, although we also see it as providing opportunities we did not have before.
But basically I need to make sure our flights are full with cargo every day from all the stations I mentioned.
What is the best part of your job?I love every aspect of my job as it involves so many areas.
But if I have to highlight something special, it would be working with all the CX family.
I also enjoy meeting all our cus-tomers and selling our outstanding service to them. I am truly a proud CX employee!
What is the most challenging part of your job? Our challenge is to convince customers we are the best choice at all times.
Our reputation is that while we are good, we are also more expensive. But we provide a much better solu-tion than most, and that is what is important.
The competition to and from Hong Kong is getting fierce, and we have to be aware that the competition are doing a good job as well.
We need to be a step ahead at all times.
WHAT I DO
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global downturn,” says Vivian Lo, Manager Car-go Sales & Marketing.
“Miami and Houston are the major gateways to and from South America and we are working with partners to provide a seamless ‘one-stop shop’ service from Hong Kong.”
Tracy Garrett, Cargo Manager Houston, says the local market has been offering solid sup-port for the new flights in the first month.
“The bulk of the traf-fic is mostly oil-well equipment and some smaller high-tech shipments, with the most popular destina-tions being Singapore, Mumbai, Dubai and Australia,” says Tracy.
Cargo Manager Miami Yesmin Monayar reports a good response “not only from the local agents but also from Latin America through our interline partners”.
MIA is the main gateway for Lat-
LEAVING TOWN: The crew for HMD’s final flight – Flight Engineer Colin Wheatley, Flight Engineer Tom Reynolds, Flying Training Manager B747F Craig Baynes, Flight Engineer Allan Pickering, First Office James Felix – with (far right) Graham Mayo.
purposes from the Florida Keys to Southeast Asia,” says Yesmin.
The good start to the thrice-weekly service was tempered by the eruption of Mount Redoubt in Anchorage, which led to freighter cancellations and a good deal of tonnage lost.
in America, with 70 per cent of the cargo coming from different coun-tries south of the border.
“We’ve been carrying everything from live tropical fish from Costa Rica to Taipei, agricultural prod-ucts and flowers from Colombia to Japan, and shrimp for breeding
HOUSTON IS GO: CX North American staff join airport officials to celebrate the arrival of the first freighter service from Hong Kong.
The move to a more efficient freighter fleet is being speeded up in light of the current cargo slump, with all four remaining Boeing 747-200 “Classic” aircraft being retired by the end of July this year.
The latest to leave was B-HMD, which de-parted HKIA – stripped of most of its livery
and identifying markings – on 18 March.The aircraft is now in Victorville in South-
ern California where it will be parked and then broken up for spares if a buyer can’t be found.
The Classics have been amazing workhors-es for CX, and even on her last flight HMD car-
ried three spare engines for sale, three sets of landing gear for repair, two flaps, two empty engine stands and other assorted cargo that saved the airline considerable shipping costs.
The next to go is B-HIH, which will leave Hong Kong on 27 April. The aircraft has been sold and will fly to Kemble in the United King-dom to be dismantled for parts by the buyer.
The big change in the retirement plan is the departure of B-HVX and B-HVZ, which were due to fly regionally until 2012 but will now be retired on 1 June and 31 July respectively.
The retirement of the Classics will simplify the CX fleet and provide a boost for Engineer-ing in the form of three fewer engine types to handle.
On the downside it will mean the airline say-ing farewell to the Flight Engineers (FEs) who have been key to the operation of these non-electronic-cockpit aircraft.
The FEs – who numbered 35 at the time of going to press – have all been given the op-tion of voluntary redundancy.
“The end of May will be the end of the road for most of our FEs as only nine will be needed to operate the last aircraft until its departure in late July,” says Chief Flight Engineer Mike Conduit.
“Many of them will look for other options in the aviation world, but most are unlikely to return to the flight deck as there are very few Classic fleets still operating,” says Mike. “We certainly wish all our FEs well in their future endeavours.”
Plans are still being put together to say fare-well to an aircraft and a fleet which has served CX with great dedication for more than 25 years.
5
Airline of the Year – again!CX received the most votes from more than 16 million passengers around the world to take the “Airline of the Year 2009” honour in the World Airline Survey run by Skytrax.
This was the third time for CX to take the top honour in the 10-year his-
tory of the awards and Chief Executive Tony Tyler said to win at such a diffi cult time for the industry was particularly note-worthy.
“It’s fi tting that we win this award soon after
launching our new vision, which highlights our aim to be the world’s best airline. It seems we are mov-
ing in the right direction, whatever the current diffi culties we face,” Tony said.
“This award should be seen as a cel-ebration of all the things we do well
and it’s a great refl ection of the hard work by everyone in the airline – thank
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n 6th ERF arrivesThe full complement of Boeing 747-400ERF freighters in now in operation on long-haul routes following the arrival of B-LIF – the sixth and fi nal ERF – on 9 April.
Meanwhile, the retirement of the Classics has been speeded up with the latest leaving the fl eet on 16 April – see opposite.
n New mobile application
The new CX Mobile application takes advantage of the capabilities of modern “smart phones” to en-able passengers to check fl ight ar-rivals and departures, check-in for fl ights, read about the place they are fl ying to using City Guides, and access all mobile services at m.cathaypacifi c.com.
The application works on all ma-jor smart phone brands – down-load at http://www.cathaypacifi -chost.com/CXMobile/popup.html
n Passenger surcharge adjustedCX further reduced its passenger fuel surcharges for the period 1 April to 31 May following an an-nouncement made by the Hong Kong Civil Aviation Department (CAD).
The new maximum levels of sur-charges are HK$52 for short-haul fl ights and HK$239 for long-haul fl ights, representing a reduction of approximately 15% on previous levels.
n New address for Saigon Town Offi ceFrom 27 April, the address for the CX-SGN Town Offi ce is:
Unit 2, 5FL, Centec Tower72-74 Nguyen Thi Minh Khai St.District 3Ho Chi Minh City
Telephone/fax numbers remain unchanged.
Briefs
The IFE system in the new cabin product allows passengers to listen to the equivalent of
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Campaign aims to boost revenue through more online sales
Worldwide brand pushNew advertisements are now appearing in print, on-line and on major TV channels around the world to highlight what makes CX special – its unique style of service and staff who are willing to go the extra mile.
The latest phase of the People & Service brand campaign launched on 1 April in key international media channels, and General Manager Marketing & Product James Ginns says the aim is to highlight CX’s competitive advantages and increase revenue over the long term.
“It is important to keep our name out there in the key markets we serve,” says James. “We need to com-municate why we are diff erent and the value we off er, and to drive more traffi c to our website.
“There is a strategic need to diff erentiate CX from our competitors and give customers a compelling reason to fl y with us.”
The four TV commercials in the campaign show people being cared for in various situations, with the twist in the tail being that the caring is being done by CX cabin crew or airport staff .
Showing in conjunction with the main 15-second commercials – reduced in length from the usual 30 seconds to reduce airtime spend – are short call-to-action ads highlighting the fact that CX off ers “Great service. Great people. Great fares” and inviting cus-tomers to visit cathaypacifi c.com.
“Using these so-called ‘tactical tails’ is a new ap-proach for us and again the aim is to drive people to our website to make bookings,” says James.
Both the TV commercials and print ads use a selec-tion of staff talent drawn from the ranks of cabin crew and airport teams.
The ads capture staff in more informal settings than in previous ad campaigns to create a more hu-man touch – an approach that will be bolstered by a new People & Service mini-site that will feature up to 100 of our customer facing staff who help to make the brand promise a reality.
Other campaign elements include online banner ads on major news and information websites and a big presence in social media channels, including the CX blog, Facebook Fan Page, YouTube and Twitter.
“The focus of People & Service is on our people, and we have been able to use social media to amplify that message to a far wider audience than we have traditionally been able to engage,” says Manager Mar-keting Communications Celine Ho. “This is very new for CX but very exciting at the same time.”
The Cathay Pacifi c Blog has now launched, providing consumers with information on upcoming events, new website content and news.
Online Marketing Manager Ali Bullock says the blog is an attempt to put a more human face to CX. “It is being edited and written by staff who span the airline from CCD to ENV to ENG and Operations.
“The idea is to tell people what it is that we do and introduce our people. For instance, we might do an interview with Catering Services about the food served to give people more insight into how we work. It ties in perfectly with the People & Service campaign we launched on 1 April,” Ali says.
CDs on board
you all for a superb eff ort.”CX was also named “Best Airline Asia” in
this year’s awards, which were based on the annual World Airline Survey run by Skytrax
between August 2008 and March 2009.Manager Product Alex McGowan collected the awards on CX’s be-
half at the Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg, Germany.
He received the trophies from Skytrax Chief Executive Offi cer Edward Plaisted who
said it was “truly a great achieve-ment” for CX to have secured the
world’s best airline again.“We pay credit to the fact that Cathay
Pacifi c is clearly delivering a quality of prod-uct and service that its customers really ap-preciate,” Edward said.
The awards have gone on display on The Street at Cathay City and the “Airline of the Year” logo is now being displayed prominent-ly at CX.com and on marketing materials.
The fi rst big push for the CX Blog was in the leadup to the Hong Kong Sevens in late March where readers were given tips on how to survive one of the city’s biggest party weekends, as well as being kept updated throughout the big event itself.
In terms of feedback, Ali says “readers will be able to comment on articles but they will be moderated before it goes live.” Later on staff will also be asked for contributions and suggestions on how to make the CX Blog more interactive.
“We want the blog to show the outside world why CX is such a great airline,” he adds.
Check it out at www.cathaypacifi c.com/blog
New blog highlights the best of CX
SERVICE STRENGTH: The new People & Service campaign highlights the airline’s biggest asset through a range of print ads (top) and TV commercials (above).
PROUD MOMENT: Alex McGowan (right) accepts the award
Checking-in concernsI used FOC tickets for my family to Auckland and the return tickets for my family were all con� rmed. At the time, we understood the � ight was not full.
However, when I tried to do Online Check-In 45 hours before departure time, nearly 90 per cent of the seats were occupied already.
I checked to see if the � ight was over-booked and it was not. I was then informed the check-in sta� in AKL had arranged pre-assigned seats for nearly all the passengers.
If that is the case, then what is the purpose of OLCI?
Name withheld
Bob Nipperess, Employee Services Manag-er, replies: Our full-fare passengers are given the option of pre-reserving their preferred seats and this is why, when our sta� travellers use OLCI, they sometimes � nd few seats free for their choice.
However, we want to give our sta� travel-lers the best available remaining options and we therefore recommend that OLCI is used for all no-sub travel.
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dress code requirements for our ID travellers and when infringements are reported we fol-low up with the responsible employee.
Our colleagues in Airports are responsible for monitoring dress standards at check-in and our onboard teams � le reports where travellers have either “slipped through the net” or have changed into inappropriate at-tire after check-in.
More room for motorcyclesAs CX is committed to being more environ-mentally friendly, we should encourage peo-ple to use greener modes of transport to get to and from work.
Motorcycles use less fuel and produce fewer emissions than cars so we should make more free motorcycle parking spaces avail-able.
There is plenty of space available around Cathay City, and motorcycles do not take up much of that space.
Paul WhiteAHK
John Arnold, Manager Property & Ser-vices, replies: We actively encourage sta� to use more environmentally friendly modes of transport to get to and from work .
Good examples of this are the Kwoon Chung shuttle buses and car pooling. We have also expanded the bicycle parking area in the covered car park and built an outdoor bicycle rack.
Covered motorcycle parking spaces are readily available in the covered car park and the number of free daily motorcycle spaces has been expanded from � ve to seven.
However, space in and around Cathay City remains at a premium and as such we have decided not to allocate any further space for free motorcycle parking.
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Letters to the Editor
Send us your feedbackWe welcome feedback from anyone in the CX network on any issue a� ecting 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.
Clearer vision
The publication of our new vision and mis-sions was a real eye-opener for everyone in CX.
It provides direction for all of us to be more responsible in our positions and lays down the criteria for success.
I have been part of this company for many years and we’ve never seen a situation such as the one our airline – and indeed the whole industry – faces now.
We must do whatever we can do to main-tain our progress and I believe the vision and missions will help to put us on the right track.
The new vision and missions create a good feeling and make me proud to work for CX.
James ThomasBOM
Dress to impress I have noticed some sta� do not comply with the Business Class dress code when on ID travel.
But when my family travelled Business Class, the ground sta� insisted she needed to check on the dress code before giving out the boarding pass.
Is there a new dress code for di� erent lev-els and genders of sta� ?
Yolanda MahISD
Bob Nipperess, Employee Services Man-ager, replies: No, there are no di� erences in
Last month we asked: “Does the Hong Kong Sevens still have the same marketing power from a CX perspective? “
You answered:
The online poll
Yes – the Sevens remains a world-class event that spreads the CX name around the world.
Some of the marketing magic has gone but it’s still worthwhile for CX to back the Sevens.
The Sevens is old hat – we need to look for something new to sponsor.
Check out the CX World website and Daily News on IntraCX for next month’s poll question.
0 20 40 60 80
7
KA PEOPLE
Striking the right note
When Manager Security Anthony Yung joined Dragonair last October he was already very familiar with the airline, hav-ing been in the very di� erent role of Port Manager Changsha from 2002 to 2004.
“Having worked in the airline industry for a few years, I decided to try something new and joined an airport security com-pany in Hong Kong,” Anthony says. “It was a very fortunate move because I can now use the experience I gained there in my new position at Dragonair.”
Anthony is responsible for all security matters at KA including providing support for operations teams and arranging induc-tion training for crew and ground sta� .
“The support work is mainly to help crew and ground sta� at HKIA handle unruly passengers as well as conducting induction training to teach crew some basic self-defence skills,” he says.
Anthony also visits outports to assess the security situation on the ground, par-ticularly pertinent given concerns in sev-eral destinations since he came on board.
“We need to constantly assess whether the teams on the ground at the airports can handle any emergencies that may arise,” Anthony says.
In his spare time, he likes to play piano and has even composed some songs.
“I started playing piano when I was very young so it is a lifetime hobby. But I only started enjoying it when I didn’t have to do exams anymore!” he laughs.
“I compose mostly pop songs but it is hard to do that with only a piano as the
sound is not com-plete. So I like it when friends help out by playing real instruments
because then you have the proper
sound and I can have fun rearrang-
ing it.”
Phuket bucks downward trend with more fl ights
Safety is the responsibility of every sta� member, which is why KA’s Cor-porate Safety and Quality Depart-ment (CSQ) is planning to launch a � ight safety magazine later in the year to drive the message home.
DragonFLY will also be used to es-tablish a learning process for safety management.
The CSQ Department is responsi-ble for maintaining operational safe-ty across all aspects of Dragonair. Its team members (pictured right), which include a former engineer, pi-lots, IT specialists and cabin crew, all have di� erent areas of specialisation that complement their job scope.
Head of Corporate Safety and Quality Kwok Chan says: “The spe-cialised pro� les make it easier for us to improve safety and quality across di� erent functional areas of the company.
“We have a common mentality – never to accept things as they are – and this allows us to mitigate risks and hazards on a continuous basis,” he adds.
The team has three pilots that serve as part-time Flight Safety Of-� cers and embedded Quality As-surance O� cers in operational departments to provide CSQ with � rst-hand knowledge.
“Dragonair has a sound safety re-cord, but this does not mean that we can stop there. We have to make continuous improvements in corpo-rate safety and quality and strive to be the best,” Kwok says.
“Our major challenge is to main-tain a good safety culture across the board – safety should be everyone’s concern and responsibility. We want to encourage sta� to report any safety risks as well as keeping them-selves safe at work,” he adds.
DragonFLY will initially be print-ed twice a year and copies will be distributed throughout Dragonair House.
Cadet programme goes from strength to strength
Safety focus for new publication
“The forward bookings are encouraging with an almost 100 per cent load factor over the past month,” he says.
“Demand is also high in the Business Class cabin but unfortunately we only have eight seats in the aircraft we normally use. The economic downturn has lessened business travel overall but not in the case of Phuket where there is still strong demand in the upper leisure segment,” he adds.
Though Phuket is already well known to
Frequencies to Phuket increased from seven � ights per week to nine on 29 March with twice daily services on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
And for Easter and the Songkran New Year peak travel season in April, two more charter � ights from Hong Kong were mounted and the aircraft were also upgraded for three days.
Yongyut Lujintanon, Sales & Marketing Manager Thailand & Burma, says despite the economic downturn Phuket remains a popular leisure destination.
Hong Kong travellers, Yongyut says he would like to get the message across that now is an even better time to visit with promotions on around the island to highlight the fact hotels are now even cheaper.
“We will also be looking at the events market to promote the Phuket Film Festival 2009 in June and working closely with the event organiser to get the major share of � lm director and celebrity passengers to travel with CX and KA,” Yongyut adds.
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The annual Dragonair Aviation Certi� cate Programme kicked o� on 4 April with more cadets than ever joining the aviation-inspired mentoring programme.
The 16 cadets, aged 18 to 23, are now undergoing an eight-month learning programme working together with Dragonair pilots.
They will attend training sessions, brie� ngs and tours provided with the support of aviation-related organisations. These include the Airport Authority Hong Kong, the Civil Aviation Department, Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering Company, Hong Kong Airport Services, the Airport Meteorological O� ce of the Hong Kong Observatory, the Aviation Security Company and the Government Flying Service.
O� ciating at the programme kick-o� ceremony were Dragonair Chief Executive O� cer Kenny Tang, Acting Deputy Director General of Civil Aviation Colman Ng, and Hong Kong Air Cadet Corps Commanding O� cer Group Captain Jones Wong.
Kenny said it was exciting to see the programe established as one of the airline’s signature events and growing stronger year by year. “We believe it is particularly important during times like these that we hold strong in our e� orts to continue to nurture talents who can contribute to the future success of the local aviation industry,” he said.
READY TO GO: The 16 cadets, the pilot mentors and (back row centre, from left) General Manager Operations Peter Sanderson, Jones Wong, Kenny Tang and Colman Ng, all celebrate the start of the 2009 programme.
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It takes more than an economic slump to dampen the spirits at Hong Kong’s biggest party.
The Cathay Paci� c/Credit Su-isse Hong Kong Sevens de� ed the downturn and presented the world with another great combination of top sporting action and full-on fun at the end of last month.
The Fiji team was the big winner of the weekend, scraping through 26-24 against South Africa in the � nal of the Cup, though it was another good event for Cathay Paci� c, with the airline once again being able to realise the marketing potential con-nected with one of the world’s best-loved sporting � xtures.
Sales of Sevens packages in over-seas markets were down marginally on last year, indicating some eco-nomic impact, but overall the inter-est level was just as high – in Hong Kong and overseas.
The Sevens helped to spread the CX name around the world, as evi-denced in countless news reports, TV features and blog postings. The resilience of the Sevens was even re-ported in the New York Times, where rugby rarely merits a mention.
The “Get Ready for the Sevens” ad campaign grabbed attention in the build up to the event and a video competition, run through a special CX Sevens website, came to a con-clusion on Sunday.
Forty-three specially made Sev-ens videos were submitted by the public and more than 11,000 votes cast to decide the top three vid-eos, all of which were shown on at the stadium with the 40,000-strong crowd roaring out their vote.
The winner was “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot”, submitted by David
Paice from the UK, which can still be viewed at www.cathaypaci� c.com/hksevens.
“We were delighted with the tournament this year which de� ed the economic gloom, brought thou-sands to Hong Kong, and was once again great for our brand and for the city,” says General Manager Market-ing & Product James Ginns.
“We were especially pleased with the response online and at the event itself to the video competition – the � rst time we’d tried something like that.”
Marketing boost for airline as Hong Kong Sevens shrugs off downturn blues Marketing boost for airline as Hong Kong Sevens shrugs off downturn blues Sevens proves recession-proof
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Helping to weather the fi nancial stormFinance Director James Hughes-Hallett has taken up his new role at one of the airline’s most di� cult times in recent history ...
James Hughes-Hallett joined Swire in 1994 and his � rst posting was with CX as Project Finance Manager.
He switched to a Treasury role before moving to become Finance Director at Swire Beverages and then Deputy Group Finance Director of Swire Paci� c.
He took up the role as CX Finance Director on 11 March, the same day the airline announced its record loss in 2008.
How did you feel when you were appointed to your new role?There was a moment when I viewed the job with some trepidation.
However, the more I thought about it the more I contemplated the possibility of being able to look back on this and seeing what an incredible period it was to be involved in helping such a prestigious company through an unprecedented economic down-turn.
As a � nance professional, I want to be challenged. It’s scary but exciting.
Are there any advantages to com-
ing back into the company during a severe downturn?During times like this I think the environment is more open to change.
I don’t mean change for change’s sake but in terms of � nding ways to improve the way we work in terms of reporting and operational management.
That can only being good for the company.
Are there disadvantages to hav-ing been out of the CX fold for a while?From a technical point of view there’s an obvious disadvantage,
but what I have noticed so far is how everyone has been so helpful and supportive in assimilating me back into the company.
I’m lucky to have a very capable team, many of whom I know from my earlier CX stint, but hopefully my having spent time away from the airline will allow me to bring some fresh perspectives.
Is fuel hedging the biggest prob-lem we face at the moment?It’s de� nitely not the biggest prob-lem.
Our exposure to fuel prices remains a risk that requires constant vigilance for which we have a clear
RUGBY FEVER: All the colour and action of the Sevens on and off the fi eld. (left) The Fiji team cel-ebrates as they are crowned Cup champions; (right) CX cadet pilot Mark Goosen in action; (second right) CX cabin crew get the crowd cheering for the Sevens video win-ner; and (below right) CX Chairman Chris Pratt with Bowl champions Portugal.
Marketing boost for airline as Hong Kong Sevens shrugs off downturn blues
Taking a trip down memory laneIn her 15 years at Cathay Paci� c, Jen-nie Tung Wirth had many memorable moments, not least of which was see-ing the lights of the Sydney Harbour Bridge from the air.
Jennie joined Cathay Paci� c in 1954 and she says her ambition at the time was to see the world – and being a � ight attendant was the best way to do it.
“I started in 1954 as a Cabin At-tendant, moved on to being a Check Flight Hostess and was an Adminis-trative Assistant when I resigned in 1969,” she says.
“The � ights back then were much longer with lengthy layovers and we only served Southeast Asia. Of course the aircraft were also much smaller with fewer passengers and no in� ight entertainment. But we also had more time to spend with passengers,” she adds.
Jennie has fond memories of her time as a cabin crew on the DC3s, speci� cally on a Hong Kong to Sydney charter � ight in 1956.
Back then the whole trip took 64 hours and was particularly memora-ble as it was the � rst time she’d visited another continent.
“This � ight was unforgettable,” Jen-nie says. “I had only been with the com-pany a year and I had to work alone on that � ight. The passengers were 24 seamen going to join their ship in Sydney Harbour.
“When we landed in Darwin, men came on board wearing wide brim hats with tassels around the brim to help service the plane. Some of them were very curious to see a Chinese girl who could speak English!” she laughs.
Jennie says the long journey tired her out and she took a rest in the jump seat.
“I was asleep when Captain Moore came out to check. I thought that I would be in big trouble for dozing o� on duty and didn’t know what to say to him,” she recalls.
9
“The next thing I remember was hearing the bell and, when I rushed up to the cockpit, I saw the lights of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
“Captain Moore introduced me to the Station Manager as ‘Miss Tung, the koala bear’ because of the way I slept in the jump seat. I knew
then that I wasn’t in trouble!” she laughs.
During her last � ve years at CX, Jennie was given the oppor-tunity to represent the company around
the world. “It was very satisfying experience.
I went to the ASTA Convention, the International Chief Hostess Confer-ence and did some public relations work. I also had the privilege of visiting several international airlines to assimilate the di� erent cultures of their countries, which was an invalu-able experience,” Jennie says.
And the most important thing she learned at CX? “I learned to be a team person. During sickness and emergencies, we had to take care of each other. And to be patient in chal-lenging times,” she says.
Marketing boost for airline as Hong Kong Sevens shrugs off downturn blues Sevens proves recession-proof
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CREW LIFE: (above) Jennie trawls through hundreds of photos showing her career at CX (below).
Helping to weather the fi nancial stormstrategy and a focused team.
Right now the bigger issue is cash � ow – helping to improve the operational performance and ensuring that we have enough cash to see us through these tough times.
Our fuel hedging portfolio is what it is – the result of some very unusual circumstances that I’m glad I didn’t have to face.
The recent experiences have thrown up how important it is to consider even some of the most unusual of possible scenarios and secondly how important communication is – explaining why certain things were done, what
the impact’s going to be and how that might be shrouding the true underlying performance of the company.
So what makes the current oper-ating environment so challeng-ing?It’s pretty hard to imagine any worse range of circumstances – an environment in which underlying demand for product is down, the fact that much of our revenue is now coming in currencies that are weaker than base currency and a situation in which fuel prices, though they have come down, are still expensive.
There’s also a banking and overall � nance crisis which is hurting all companies in terms of the availability and cost of funds.
How long do you think the down-turn will last?One rule I try to adhere to, which I consider is central to e� ective � -nancial risk management, is not having a view on what will happen, but making sure we are protected against what could happen.
The point is to manage our busi-ness assuming it could last two or three years, at the same time know-ing we would be well placed if the upturn came sooner.
10
Olympian effort from top chefsHK masters serve up culinary delights
Warm welcome for CA secondees
The second batch of Air China middle management sta� arrived in Hong Kong in March to begin a period of on-the-job training at CX.
The eight sta� have been seconded to various departments including CCD, FOP, IMT and PNL to learn how things are done in Hong Kong. After their three-month secondment, they are expected to give a presentation of what they have learnt and will also receive a graduation certi� cate.
New co-brand card launchedCX joined together with American Express and Banco De Oro Unibank (BDO) earlier this month to launch a new co-brand cred-it cards in the Philippines.
The two cards – the Cathay Pacific Amer-ican Express Elite Credit Card and the Ca-thay Pacific American Express Credit Card – offer the best Asia Miles earn rate in the local market.
All spending is automatically transferred into Asia Miles, meaning the cards offer a faster way to earn flight awards while pro-viding an array of exclusive privileges and world class services.
The cards, which come on the back of the successful launches of CX/Amex co-brand cards in Hong Kong and Taiwan,
were launched at a ceremony in Manila on 1 April.
“We have worked hard with American Express and BDO to create a card which brings card members the Marco Polo Club membership, free auto mileage conver-sion, bonus Asia Miles and discounted fees for various Cathay Pacific and Asia Miles services,” says Paul Loo, General Manager Cathay Pacific Loyalty Programmes.
The take-up of the co-brand cards in Hong Kong has exceeded expectations since the June 2008 launch, with a recent acquisition promotion giving a further boost.
A new promotion will begin soon in the Taiwan market.
ON THE CARDS: The new Philippines co-brand card was launched at an event in Manila.
First and Business Class passengers will soon be sampling dishes prepared by mem-bers of the Hong Kong Chefs Association’s National Culinary Team.
From May to October a selection of Western appetisers, entrees and desserts prepared by the team will be o� ered on se-lected � ights.
The team that helped prepare the menu competed at the 22nd IKA International Culinary Olympics in Germany last October bringing home gold and silver medals.
Catering Manager Planning & Concept Design Brendan Du� y says: “We are always looking for ways to keep the in� ight menu fresh with new promotions and themes.
“As CX sponsored the � ights for the team to attend the Culinary Olympics, we decided to extend that relationship further by work-
ing with them to create a number of dishes which we thought would be exciting and dif-ferent for our passengers to try,” he added.
Team captain and Igor Group Corporate Chef Angelo McDonnell says he enjoyed work-ing with the CX team to develop the menu.
“Over 100 dishes were proposed, of which about 60 were eventually selected,” Angelo says. “The dishes are essentially the same as we originally envisioned though some chang-es had to be made to suit the in� ight environ-ment.”
“In terms of presentation, we also needed to consider CPCS’ ability to reproduce the dishes on a daily basis,” Brendan adds.
In� ight, passengers will be presented with a menu card with details of the promotion and the selected dishes being served on their � ight.
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■ Charter certifi cationCX has received Clean Air Char-ter Certi� cation from the Hong Kong General Chamber of Com-merce, the Hong Kong Business Coalition on the Environment and the Business Environment Council (BEC).
The BEC conducted an audit of CX last November to assess what the company is doing to lessen its impact on local air quality.
On 28 March, CX and KA took part in the WWF-initiated Earth Hour event with the lights in Ca-thay City and Dragonair House as well as the bridge link being switched o� for an hour (below).
■ Time to honour the service stars
The annual Betsy Awards will take place at Cathay City on 15 May, with CX and KA sta� being honoured at a lunchtime presentation ceremony for going beyond the call of duty to help passengers or promote service excellence.
Nominations for the 2009 awards were shortlisted from thousands of compliment letters received from passengers last year as well as from internal reports.
The top stories are now being put to a panel of judges made up of senior managers who will determine the winning stories for the 2009 Betsy Awards.
■ Good news for nursing mumsIn response to an idea sub-mitted through the iSuggest programme, a dedicated facility for nursing mothers has been introduced at Cathay City.
The nursing mothers’ room is located at 2/F North Tower.
Briefs
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different newspaper titles are uplifted on CX fl ights around the world
Ready for the storm
A dedicated team formed in advance of this year’s typhoon season will provide welcome support to frontline sta� in the event of any signi� cant service disruptions.
Sta� volunteers were recruited for the new Service Disruption Support Team (SDST) in January and are now being trained to perform simple check-in or reservation tasks.
About 130 sta� who signed up have undertaken some e-learning training modules as well as going through class-room and on-the-job training at Hong Kong International Airport.
Manager Corporate Contingency Planning Rob-ert Kent says the new team grew out of what hap-pened when Typhoon Prapiroon hit in 2006.
“We sent members of our Immediate Support Group to help out at the Hong Kong airport, but they were not fully trained, procedures were rusty and many of them were not used to facing de-manding customers. It hurt the ISG programme and in subsequent disruptions it became harder to get volunteers,” Robert says.
CCP looked at the procedures used and two main problem areas were identi� ed – crowd control and processing power.
Robert says the crowd control problem was dealt with by estab-lishing a queuing system at HKIA – already used to good e� ect in two typhoon disruptions last year.
“We worked with the Hong Kong Airport Authority to design a crowd control system which sends all the incoming CX passengers onto the lower level of HKIA where they are sorted before going to the check-in area,” he says.
CX is putting a more focused e� ort on improving the customer experience when major service disruptions occur...
With the Hong Kong typhoon sea-son just around the corner, a lot of attention will be focused on how well CX measures up to one of the key action items that came out of the recent strategy review – to bet-ter manage signi� cant disruptions to the operation.
Like many of the action items, this is not a totally new project. A lot of work has gone into re� ning the airline’s disruption management over the years, with a number of new measures introduced to good e� ect last year.
However, CX still needs to further improve its processes, says Director Service De-livery Ivan
Chu, because as a top-tier carrier “our customers expect we can do well in this area, and our reputation is at stake”.
Ivan, who will act as Disruption Manager when the disruption plan is activated, says the key issue is consistency – being able to plan for as many di� erent kinds of disrup-tions as possible in both Hong Kong and outports.
“If we are to generate a good response to disruptions we need meticulous internal organisation and clear coordination, particularly
if the disruption is in our Hong Kong hub.”
Ivan says that a lot has changed in the past nine months
with developments in three major areas.
Better teamwork and partner-ships“We have established a clos-er working relationship with the Airport Authority and the CAD because it’s in ev-eryone’s interest to make sure we do this well,” says
Ivan. “We also now have closer coor-dination among all 12 departments in CX that have their own disruption plans in place.”
Improved IT platform“In any major disrup-tion we would like our customers to go straight to CX.com or KA.com, and we have invested quite a lot to boost the website bandwidth and ensure a stable service during disrup-tion peaks.”
Increased manpower“We have recruited volunteers – about 140 people – for the Service Disruption Support Team [see story below] who will boost our check-in capabilities, and we are now looking for more volunteers to support Res-ervations and ECX,” says Ivan.
Other work in progress includes closer liaison with the AA and CAD to � nalise the cancellation and re-sumption of � ights, and working to
con� rm rebookings for passengers in a timelier manner.
There will also be a joint drill to test procedures and an exercise to
educate the media on how the airline is dealing with disrup-
tion issues. “At the airport we want
to build on the good work done last year to imple-ment more orderly queu-
ing and better crowd man-agement, and to process
passengers quicker,” says Ivan. “Having more manpower will
help, as will the AA plan to double the number of CUSS machines.”
There will be a renewed e� ort to drive more online servicing, with passengers being able to view � ight status by accessing their Passenger Name Record (PNR) themselves from the end of April.
“Now, if Mother Nature throws us a curveball I am con� dent that we are much better equipped than be-fore in terms of planning, resources, teamwork and people,” says Ivan. “We have a superb team who I know can get the job done well.”
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Obituary – Denny Kong
Friends and colleagues were saddened to hear of the death of In� ight Ser-vice Manager Denny Kong, who passed away on 29 March after a long battle with illness.
Denny, from Hong Kong, joined the CX cabin crew ranks in 1985 and was pro-moted to ISM in 2003.
“Denny was known for his happy nature and permanent smile,” says Kevin Ip, Cabin Crew Line Manager – ISM & SP.
“He was well loved by all those who worked with him and he will be sadly missed by his many colleagues, friends and family.”
Scores of Denny’s ISD colleagues signed a condo-lence book that was placed in the Crew Lounge.
Denny is survived by his wife Janet – a Senior Purser with CX – and two sons, Bowen and James.
“With that problem dealt with, we needed to look at concerns over process-ing passengers and the idea for the SDST was born,” Robert says.
“Some of the volunteers have previ-ous check-in experience while the oth-ers are looking to learn extra skills.”
To help train the team, the usual � ve-week course had to be condensed to four days, with AHQ simplifying the process to focus on what will be nec-
essary for the team to do when being deployed to assist at the airport.
Tech Services Engineer Constant Lee says he joined the team to learn new skills.
“The training was chal-lenging and there is a lot more involved than I thought. I have a whole new respect for what the check-in sta� do,” he says.
Accounting Supervisor Jenny Ng says she appreciat-ed the patience of the check-
in supervisor during training, while her colleague Iris Chung says that communi-cating with passengers was a � rst for her.
“The training gave me a chance to put new skills I learned in the classroom to a real test,” Iris says.
Robert says the SDST marks a 180-de-gree change to what happened during Prapiroon.
“I’ve spoken to counterparts in other airlines and no one else has a disruption plan with a dedicated team like this. It’s a novel experiment but I think it will pay dividends,” he says.
Dedicated team being trained up to boost support during Hong Kong disruptions
ON THE SPOT: (from top) Iris Chung, Constant Lee and Jenny Ng during their training session at HKIA.
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LAX team keeps parked planes in orderThe task of looking after the CX aircraft parked in the desert at Victorville, California, has fallen to the Los Angeles Engi-neering team.
They are charged with inducting the aircraft into the long-term parking programme, conducting regular visits to ensure they’re being looked after in accordance with CX re-quirements and, � nally, getting the aircraft ready for service when required.
This is not something new for CXLAX Engineering Man-ager Carl Buack, who looked after CX aircraft parked in VCV during SARS.
“The induction process is labour-intensive, taking about two weeks, and involves the preservation of the aircraft for long-term parking,” Carl explains.
The process includes lubricating � ight controls and land-ing gear, deactivating electrical, avionics and air-condition-ing systems, and storing various components.
The aircraft is then towed to a long-term storage pad where all openings are blanked o� , and intakes, exhausts and doors sealed.
“All the cabin and � ight deck windows are covered with re� ective material to prevent damage from the desert sun,” adds Carl.
Once the aircraft is “preserved”, Southern California Avia-tion at VCV will carry out routine at di� erent intervals.
“A monthly visit from CX is generally enough to check that everything is in order, though sometimes we get requests from Inventory Operations in Hong Kong for a component to be removed from a parked aircraft to be used on another aircraft,” says Carl, who needs to issue a certi� cate for the removed component and ensure it is shipped promptly.
Victorville is in the high desert of southern California, some 110 miles by road from Los Angeles, and, with relative humidity ranging from 30-40 per cent all year, it is deemed ideal for long-term parking.
“If the aircraft preservation is carried out properly and all routine checks are adhered to the aircraft will not su� er any signi� cant deterioration,” says Carl.
Carl and his team have to be ready for aircraft reactiva-tion, which takes around the same time and manpower to complete as the induction.
“The recent reactivation of B-KAE [parked in January but brought back to be wet-leased to Air Hong Kong] took only 10 days to complete thanks to the invaluable contribution from Philip Chang and McGee Sim from HKG,” says Carl, who promises to share the parking chores with others in the LAX ENG team next time.
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Top passenger accoladeCathay Pacific has won the Passenger Airline Award at the annual Schiphol Aviation Awards presented in March.
The awards are presented to companies operating at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol that made an outstanding contribution to passenger or cargo transport over the past year.
CX won the Passenger Airline Award for the deployment of more capacity in the form of a Boeing 747-400 from October 2008 in addition to the launch its First Class service to Amsterdam.
Country Manager Benelux & Scandinavia Andy Wong collected the award on the airline’s behalf from Ad Rutten, Executive Vice President & COO of Schiphol Group.
Recognition for super branding effortCathay Paci� c was presented with an Elite Award at the 4th Asia Paci� c Super Excellent Brand Award gala dinner held in early March.
The award recognises the airline’s branding initiatives for the overall company as well as speci� c products and services.
Country Manager Malaysia & Brunei Katherine Lo accepted the award from Malaysian Deputy Minister of International Trade and Industry Datuk Liew Vui Keong.
Inspiring ideas from staff gatheringThe � rst-ever sta� Benelux & Scandinavia conference was held in March and made possible by a generous donation by the Schiphol Group who lent their auditorium for the event.
The aim of the conference was to explain the company’s new vision and missions to sta� in Amsterdam, Brussels and Stockholm as well as brie� ng them on the company’s annual results.
External speakers from the Schiphol Group and Shangri-La Hotels also outlined their philosophy of service delivery while a speaker from Universal Media gave a presentation on the latest online trends and related opportunities for CX.
Workshops were held in the afternoon with sta� discussing and debating CX operations and pro� tability, leading to some interesting positive suggestions being raised.
On a missionThe CX Bahrain team participated in the � ve-city Middle East Travel Mission organised by the Hong Kong Tourism Board in early March to promote CX products and services to the important Middle East market (left).
The travel mission, which was the � rst of its kind for the HKTB in the Gulf States, included visits to Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Doha, Manama and Dammam.
In March, CXBAH, led by Country Manager Bahrain & Saudi Arabia Daniel Cheung, presented souvenirs to representatives from the Bahrain International Circuit in recognition of the business the airline has received from them over the past few years (below left).
Since 2006, when the � rst Desert 400 Challenge V8 Australian supercar event was held in Bahrain, CX has been � ying the competing teams to and from Australia and Bahrain.
Also in March, CX ASM Shawqi Akbari (below centre) presented Customer Services O� cer – GHA Tariq Sharif with a certi� cate of achievement after he passed the annual airport knowledge test.
FROM THE TOP: Country Manager Benelux & Scandinavia Andy Wong opens the conference.
PARKING LOT: Carl Buack and SCA’s Diane Peterson with B-HUR, which is in Victorville for long-term parking.
13
Winston goes out on a win
PORT PEOPLE
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GOODBYE!: Winston looks back over his CX years.
The Indonesian team held a Vision Day on 1 March with sta� from the Jakarta, Denpasar and Surabaya o� ces getting together in Jakarta to hear from Chief Operating O� cer John Slosar.
John presented CX’s new vision and missions to the team, before conducting a lively Q&A session with sta� .
The event ended on a fun note with a
talent show competition and sta� being asked to present their own “picture of success” in a creative, fun way. Against sti� competition, the Denpasar team eventually took the top prize.
Over in Bangkok, sta� heard from Chief Executive Tony Tyler who briefed the team on how the vision and missions evolved and how individual
sta� can help achieve the vision. Tony was joined by General Manager
SE Asia Anna Thompson and Country Manager Philippines Ed Higgs in Manila to brief 113 sta� from the Manila and Cebu o� ces on the vision and missions.
Five sta� , with service ranging from 10 years to 20 years, also received long-service awards from Tony.
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After 28 years with CX, Singapore’s Cargo Manager Winston Tan will be bidding farewell to the company in April. His colleagues thanked him for his contribution at a dinner in March.
Winston joined CX in 1980, his second job after a three-year stint with what he calls a “quasi-government company”.
“I wanted to gain com-mercial experience and marketing was an area I was interested in,” says Winston.
He certainly did his fair share of passenger mar-keting at CX before moving on to positions in Admin and Cargo as part of his management stint.
Winston says over the years CX Singapore has grown from being just a port with narrow-body aircraft opera-tions. “The greatest change is automation. Back in my day, we had a Wang word processor and everyone had to queue up to use it,” he laughs.
Winston says the best thing about working for CX was being able to meet his goal of travelling the world “even if it wasn’t for pleasure”.
And CX’s greatest strength, he believes, is the com-pany’s belief in its people. “I want to thank my staff for making my job so easy and, most importantly, for mak-ing me always look good,” says Winston.
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Senior managers take the time to share the vision
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Ada Chan, Assistant Online Marketing Manager
1. One of your responsibili-ties is the CX City Guides website. Do you have a favourite guidebook? I like the Luxe Guides whose information appears in the CX City Guides. They provide di� er-ent information from the usual guidebooks.
2. Favourite city to visit? I visit Singapore a lot. The food is fantastic and people are nice. On my next trip, I want to visit every restaurant recommended in the Luxe guide.
3. Best travel tip you’ve ever received? Smile and be open and honest with everyone you meet and embrace cultural di� erences. 4. You’ve been with CX four years now. Do you have a favourite memory? I used to do online sales and that job required me to travel a lot. I enjoyed the pace of that lifestyle. 5. Do you go online at home or do you take a break?You can’t avoid social media these days, so I do update my Facebook page and Twitter. But only at home!
6. Does it ever get too much? Sometimes I go out without my mobile so I can get some peace.
7. Any other hobbies? Reading, blogging and planning for my next trip.
8. Adventure or leisure holiday? De� nitely leisure!
9. Most adventurous thing you have ever done? Bungy jumping in Switzerland eight years ago. I jumped o� from a cable car above a lake in Interlaken. I don’t know how or why I did it – it was so scary and I will never do it again!
10. What would you bring to a desert island? My husband, sunglasses and a swimsuit.
Oneminute with... James is sitting pretty
Two San Francisco-based Cathay Paci� c colleagues are gearing up to take part in the AIDS/LifeCycle, a seven-day 545-mile bike ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles to help raise money to help � nd a cure for HIV/AIDS.
Cabin Crew Base Executive Domi-nique Tardi� and Marketing Servic-es Supervisor Andrew Au have been diligently training for the event which runs from 31 May to 6 June.
“I started cycling 100 miles a week which increased to 150 miles in April and 200 miles in May,” Dominique says.
“The main challenges have been riding uphill, getting used to riding four to � ve hours at a time and � nd-ing the time to train. Training has also motivated me to quit smoking, a great thing!” he adds.
Andrew says he has been training since December and jokingly says the training regime means he can now eat whatever he wants, includ-
REST ASSURED: James proudly displays prototypes of his winning design.
Staffers go on the ride of their lives for LifeCycle event ing ice cream in the early hours of the morning!
“There’s nothing more refresh-ing then waking up early on the weekends, riding through the crisp morning air while enjoying the spec-tacular scenery around the Bay area,” Andrew says.
“This programme has given me the ability to meet people from all walks of life. Each of us ride for our own reason, but all for a common cause,” he adds.
Both Dominique and Andrew say taking part in AIDS/LifeCycle gives them a chance to support a cause they strongly believe in.
“The money we raise will help those in need and educate the younger generation,” Dominique says.
Dominique and Andrew have set up individual websites to document their rides and raise support.
Visit www.to� ghthiv.org/goto/aau or www.to� ghthiv.org/goto/dom to � nd out more.
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Assistant to General Manager Cor-porate Communication James Lee was a high-pro� le winner of the Crystal Cabin Award, announced in Hamburg on 1 April.
His win was all the more impres-sive as he was pitted again indus-try heavyweights including B/E Aerospace, Boeing and Lufthansa Technik.
The annual Crystal Cabin Awards recognise innovative aircraft cabin products and concepts, and James clinched the Judges’ Commenda-tion Prize for his “paperclip arm-rest” concept.
A mechanical engineering and aeronautical engineering gradu-ate, James says the idea for the armrest was to help eliminate the elbow-room problem that passen-gers struggle with.
“The dual layer armrest lets two people share it but still have an armrest each. It’s very simple but useful, just like a paperclip,” he says.
“I’ve always been interested in aircraft seats and developing ideas about how to make the de-sign better,” James says. “I was in a lecture room struggling with the person next to me over the arm-rest, when the idea came of over-lapping space to allow the armrest to cater for two people.”
James says the judges were im-pressed with his presentation and the simplicity of the idea.
“I was very excited and happy when I won and it was great to see that people like my idea,” he says.
“I have been crazy about aircraft seat design for years so to win an award in this � eld improves the chances of getting involved for real later on.”
The win means a much higher
pro� le for James’ design which has already attracted news ar-ticles on websites and print media around the world.
Later in the year, he will also be featured alongside the other Crys-tal Cabin Award winners
in the trade journal Aircraft Interi-ors International magazine.
“The article means more public-ity and more airline and manufac-turers � nding out about it which I hope will generate even more interest,” James says.
CYCLE KINGS: Andrew Au (left) and Dominique Tardiff have been training for months to be ready for the gruelling seven-day bike ride.
CHILLING OUT: Chief Executive Tony Tyler joins the Tokyo team for a relaxing night out.
WELCOME TO MY WORLD: CCD’s Jimmy Tang meets the
special CX aircraft with the oneworld livery.
PROPER SENDOFF: Flight Engineer Colin Wheatley
kicks the tyres of “Classic” freighter B-HMB before its
fi nal fl ight.
DADDY’S LITTLE GIRL: FOP’s Justin Schlechter’s daughter Gabrielle has found the perfect place to relax.
LOVELY LADIES: The girls from the CX South Africa team gather for a farewell party.
To enter, visit the online quiz entry form on the CX World site. The deadline is noon on Friday, 8 May.
The QuizEnter our latest quiz and win a two-night weekend stay at the Shangri-La’s Kerry Centre Hotel, Beijing.
The 487-room property is located near Beijing’s diplomatic, commercial and � nancial centre and close to popular historical sites.
Leisure facilities include an indoor swimming pool, squash and indoor tennis courts with
lessons available from the in-hotel tennis pro, a full-size basketball court and a health club called Kerry Sports.
Dining options include an international bu� et or Cantonese and Sichuan dishes at the Chinese restaurant. And relax at the end of the day to jazz in the Centro bar and lounge.
Find more information at www.shangri-la.com
The winner of our second prize this month will receive a three-day/two-night stay in a Garden Wing deluxe seaview room at the Shangri-La’s Rasa Ria Resort, Kota Kinabalu.
The 420-room property next to Pantai Dalit beach, has a nature reserve with an Orang Utan Rehabilitation Centre, the only one of its kind in the region. Visitors can take guided walks within the reserve and climb up to two observation towers o� ering panoramic views. Other leisure activities include a visit to the Dalit Bay Golf Club & Spa and a range of water sports.
The property has Malaysian and Asian fare, traditional cooking from Northern India and Goa and western cuisine at the beachside bar.
Find out more at www.shangri-la.com
Enter our latest quiz and win a two-night weekend stay at the Shangri-La’s Kerry Centre Hotel, Beijing.
Beijing’s diplomatic, commercial and � nancial centre and close to popular historical sites.
lessons available from the in-hotel tennis pro, a full-size basketball lessons available from the in-hotel tennis pro, a full-size basketball court and a health club called Kerry Sports. lessons available from the in-hotel tennis pro, a full-size basketball
SHOOTING STARS: A sparkler lights up the cake
at a Bahrain staff birthday party.
Airline name soars highThe CX hot air balloon was not the most striking vessel on display at the Canberra Hot Air Balloon Fiesta – it’s hard to compete against balloons in the shape of a kookaburra, a ladybird and a birthday cake – but the distinctive green-and-white colours and brushwing logo were certainly not overlooked.
Around 30 balloons took place in the nine-day event in early March and at the helm once again for CX was Senior Training Captain Nigel Black – back in Canberra for the 10th time in 15 years.
“The weather was good for most of the week, with light and vari-able winds, so we managed to � y over Canberra and its surrounds on six of the nine days,” Nigel says.
The balloon was also tethered for a couple of days so over 100 people could enjoy the experience of � ying in a balloon, “albeit only to treetop height,” he adds.
“During the week we managed to get very good coverage of the balloon and the Cathay Paci� c logo,” says Nigel, who has been � ying balloons for CX for the past 13 or 14 years.
The ground support crew included Nigel’s wife and two children, Asha and Keira – the latter, aged two, taking her � rst balloon � ight.
Also present was Kevin Philipse, who has supported the CX e� ort in Can-berra for the past 10 years.
“Thanks also go to Mark Sze-wczyk (CXSYD Cargo Supervi-sor) and the Hong Kong Mar-keting and Cargo teams who ensure the balloon gets to and from the event,” says Nigel.
Other events planned for 2009 are tethered � ights at the Hong Kong Aviation Club
TIME OUT: The CX Cargo team in Queensland get
together for a barbecue in Brisbane.
PLANES ON PARADE: Betsy award winners on a
delivery fl ight are dazzled by the display in Seattle.
TAKE THAT!: CGO’s Myra Lee gets a balloon bash by by a young rugby fan during the Hong Kong Sevens.
16
I wanted to celebrate my birthday di� erently this year so I decided to spend a long weekend in Taipei, � ying out late Thursday night.
On Friday morning I visited the well-known Yonghe Soybean Milk restaurant for the perfect breafast of a cool drink of soybean milk before paying a visit to the Northstar Aveda Salon.
It seems strange to go all the way Taipei for a shampoo but at the Northstar salon it is a very enjoyable experience.
The service begins with a hot towels and a hand massage, followed by an essential-oils shoulder massage, an eye mask and a head massage while my hair was being washed.
The whole process including blow drying lasts over an hour and only costs HK$75, which is incredible value for money.
A visit to a foot massage parlour is another “must” for me when I visit Taipei as I feel they o� er a more authentic treatment than those provided in Hong Kong, although they are also more expensive. This time I went to the Tai Chi Parlour on Zhong Xiao East Road for a relaxing session.
The following day I went with friends to Wu Lai, a rural township just outside the city which is famous for its hot springs and natural scen-ery. We dined at a café which was surrounded by hills and trees.
The meal was primarily Taiwanese cuisine fused with Japanese elements and the 10-course meal was delicately arranged with � ow-ers accompanying each dish. The food was de-licious and had the added bene� t of also being very healthy.
Assistant Manager Revenue Management Melody Keung celebrates with a weekend getaway in the Taiwanese capital
Time out in Taipei
SHOW US YOUR TIPS!CX World welcomes sta� travel tips from across the network – email us at CCD#SCT
Travel bites
■ Relaxing by the riverFurama RiverFront Singapore is o� ering CX sta� a special
price of S$190 for a deluxe room. The o� er is valid until 31
December. The 605-room property o� ers three F&B
outlets including authentic Halal Indonesian cuisine, a bu� et restaurant and a cocktail lounge.
Visitors can also relax at Spa Furama which o� ers a range of massages and therapies either in indoor rooms or outdoor cabanas.
Go to Travel Desk for more information.
■ Let there be light!
The “Vivid Sydney” festival brings splashes of light, colour and music to the vibrant Australian city.
Throughout the festival, which runs from 26 May to 14 June, the city’s main walkways and buildings will be lit up in a dazzling nightly light display.
A programme of concerts and light shows will be held at the Sydney Opera House and at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.
Over at The Rocks, a show of � ames, wa-ter, light and sound will be used to re-enact the 19th-century burning of convict ship the Three Bees.
For more information visit www.vividsyd-ney.com
■ Lighting up Seoul The Lotus Lan-tern Festival will be held in Seoul on 2 May to cele-brate Buddha’s birthday.
The lantern parade, a Bud-dhist culture street fair and a traditional lantern exhibi-tion will take place in and around Jogyesa and Bongeunsa Temples.
The lanterns range from small hand-held lotus shapes to immense lantern � oats in the shape of dragons, elephants and Bud-dhas.
Visit www.llf.or.kr/eng/ for more informa-tion.
In a quest to burn up his leave, Cabin Crew Line Manager Steven Tsang joined a group of Chinese-culture lovers to visit one of the most fascinating historical sites in southern China – the famous Fujian Tulou.
These unique round buildings, which have been awarded World Heritage Site status by UNESCO, were built by the Hakka people between the 12th and 20th centuries. The earth buildings usually have only one main gate, and were designed as a defence mechanism for the people living communally within.
“These buildings are unique to the Hakka people and are very well designed,” says Steven. “Even though they only used basic materials I was amazed to see that groups of up to 25 families had been living harmoniously under one roof for many generations.”
The circular buildings have survived many earthquakes and reputedly were suspected to be missile installations when viewed by the CIA through surveillance satellites.
“The buildings live in harmony with their environment and are well worth a visit,” says Steven.
HK$500 for a travel tale!Every month, CX World invites all CX sta� to tell unusual, interesting or just downright quirky tales of travel moments around the world.
Sponsored by In� ight Sales, the lucky sender of the main story receives HK$500 worth of in� ight sales products of their choice from the ever-changing collection of over 260 items on o� er (excluding liquor and cigarettes).
Go shopping at www.cathaypaci� c.com/dutyfree
sender of the main story receives HK$500 worth of in� ight sales products of their choice from
(excluding liquor and
www.cathaypaci� c.
Snap happy
On the Sunday, I went on a day trip to Yilan in the northeast of Taiwan to visit the Nation-al Center for Traditional Arts.
This 24-hectare park is dedicated to pro-moting traditional arts in Taiwan including theatre, music, dance, painting and acrobat-ics.
We strolled around the many buildings
enjoying snacks from the food stands and ex-ploring the theatre, music hall, library, exhibi-tion centre and the artists’ studios.
The journey from Taipei to Yilan takes only an hour via the Snow Mountain Tunnel, but those with more time to spare should take the Number 9 National Road as the scenery is wonderful.
TAIWAN TREASURES: Clockwise from top: The beauty of Yilan; Northstar Aveda Salon where a luxurious shampoo awaits; and delicate food arrangements in Wu Lai.