A new era begins for Cathay Pacific's cargo operation with the ...

news 

Cutover 

countdown 

System change only 

three months away 

November 2011, Issue 188 

features 

who, what, where 

travel 

Flights of 

Marathon 

Land of ice 

fl a v o u r s 

adventure 

and snow 

CPCS and Swire chefs 

Sta team treks the 

Alaska’s wonderful 

delight with new menu 

mountains of Nepal 

scenery dazzles 

Page 4 Page 8-9 Page 14 Page 16 

A magazine for staff and friends of Cathay Pacifi c Airways 

PRINTED ON 100% RECYCLED PAPER 

DASH TO THE FUTURE 

A new era begins for Cathay Pacifi c’s 

cargo operation with the arrival of the 

Boeing 747-8 Freighters – the “Dash 8s”

2 

RAMPING UP: The terminal team take a look 

at the ETV track being installed. 

Cargo Terminal 

topping-out 

event confi rmed 

Hong Kong’s Chief Executive Donald Tsang will visit 

Hong Kong International Airport on 17 November 

to take part in a landmark event for Cathay Paci c 

– the topping-out ceremony for the new cargo 

terminal. 

Equipment has been cleared away from the roof 

of the building where Chief Executive John Slosar 

will welcome Mr Tsang and other dignitaries to 

mark the completion of the bulk of the superstructure 

construction work. 

The terminal is scheduled to begin operations in 

early 2013. 

Darrel Kingan, Construction Project Manager, 

says the terminal building and the o ce superstructure 

work, where the Cathay Paci c Services 

Ltd (CPSL) team will be housed, are now “substantially 

complete” though electrical and mechanical 

installation and t-out tasks are still ongoing. 

On the outside of the terminal the sca olding is 

being dismantled, the external vertical cladding installed 

and the terminal logo will soon be erected. 

“Inside the terminal the main focus now is on 

the installation of the materials handling system 

(MHS), which is now progressing on all seven stories 

of the building,” says Darrel. 

Three of the 18 ETVs (elevating transfer vehicles) 

that will be used to transfer containers onto storage 

racks are now in place. 

Other ongoing MHS installation includes the 

27m-high racks for the bin storage system and the 

long stroke hoists that go from the bottom oor up 

to the roof level. 

Work on premises for government departments 

that will have permanent o ces in the building 

– including Customs and Excise, Agriculture and 

Fisheries, Food and Environmental Hygiene and 

Hong Kong Police – has just commenced. 

“Now we are working closely with other departments 

such as Fire Services and the Buildings Department 

with an aim to get an occupation permit 

by the middle of next year,” Darrel adds. 

Fuel price - Rolling 6 Months 

USD per Barrel 

150 

140 

130 

120 

110 

100 

90 

Sing Jet Kerosene 

ICE Brent 

May/11 Nov/11 

Boeing 747-8Fs to bring big effi ciency i 

Straight into s 

Having spent several months being involved 

with the development of Cathay 

Pacifi c’s new Boeing 747-8 Freighters, 

Captain Mark Hoey, Chief Pilot (747), was 

keen to see the aircraft begin earning 

money for the airline. 

He captained the delivery fl ight of 

B-LJE from Seattle that arrived in Hong 

Kong on 1 November. And he was on 

board – though not at the controls – for 

the fi rst revenue fl ight, which left Hong 

Kong for Narita in the early hours of 

8 November and came back later the 

same day via Taipei. 

“The fi rst fl ights were great! The plane 

handled a load typical of the 400 and had 

no struggles. We fi nished the fi rst day of 

service with the aircraft three minutes 

ahead of schedule,” says Mark. 

The on-time performance didn’t extend 

to the delivery schedule for the 

Dash 8s, with a delay of almost 10 months 

from the original plan. 

Originally six aircraft were due to arrive 

in 2011 but now four will be in the fl eet 

before the year end, with the delivery of 

the remaining six spread across 2012. 

A couple of weeks before the fi rst delivery, 

Mark was observing on deck as the 

aircraft was put through its paces for the 

“C1” – the fi rst customer fl ight. 

First Offi cer David Lohse sat in the 

right-hand seat, with a Boeing pilot captaining. 

In the jump seat for the 19 October 

fl ight was Manager Flight Technical 

Services Steve Smith. 

The aircraft took off from the Paine 

Airfi eld adjacent to the Boeing plant and 

fl ew around the area for the CX team to 

Performance Index 

On-time performance 

Within 15 mins 

Industry standard 

on-the-dot CX standard 

83.4% 

56.7% 

put the aircraft through manoeuvres to 

see how it ran and get familiar with its 

handling. 

“I was really honoured to be able to be 

the fi rst Cathay Pacifi c pilot to fl y this new 

type of aircraft,” David said. “The fl ight was 

very smooth and things worked well as 

we took it through its paces.” 

Later that day, Director Cargo Nick 

Rhodes (inset) hosted a dinner at the Boeing 

plant to celebrate the addition of the 

Dash 8s, with more than 100 guests including 

key customers and staff from CX 

and Boeing. 

“I never imagined 

that I would be 

representing Cathay 

Pacifi c in 

receiving a new 

aircraft type, 

and am really 

excited at what 

this means for the 

long-term future of 

our cargo operations,” 

Nick said. 

Mark says that from a distance there is 

no mistaking the 747 silhouette, “though 

the aircraft is much bigger, it has all-new 

wings and engines, and the avionics and 

systems are totally diff erent. 

“It handles a little nicer and is a bit 

crisper in response than the old version.” 

Since the fi rst revenue fl ight, B-LJE 

has been hard at work earning its crust 

around the region, enabling more pilots, 

engineers and cargo staff to familiarise 

themselves with handling the aircraft. 

The Dash 8 will come into its own fl ying 

Traffi c/capacity (CX + KA)* 

Passengers carried 2,255,605 3.5% 

Passenger load factor 79.7% -2.1pt 

ASKs (000) 10,636,349 9.8% 

Freight carried 131,443 -10.1% 

Cargo load factor 64.8% -5.0pt 

ATKs (000) 2,206,403 3.8% 

* Figures for Sep11 

transpacifi c, off ering a big improvement 

in effi ciency and payload on Cathay Pacifi 

c’s ultra-long-haul freighter services. 

The fi rst scheduled fl ight to North 

America is expected to be in December. 

The remaining three aircraft being delivered 

in 2011 are currently expected 

to arrive in Hong Kong on 15 and 19 November 

and 9 December. 

Produced by CX’s Corporate 

Communication Department 

7/F North Tower, Cathay Paci c City, 

Lantau, HK 

Publisher: C K Yeung 

Managing Editor: Mark Tindall 

Editor: Joyce Wong 

Enquiries: 2747-5293 

GalaCXy ID: CCD#SCT 

Email: ccd#sct@cathaypaci c.com 

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mprovements on ultra-long-haul routes 

ervice 

ALL SMILES: The Narita team was out to greet the Dash 8 and its crew on the aircraft’s 

fi rst revenue fl ight on 8 November. The aircraft fl ew from Hong Kong to Tokyo and then 

on to Taipei before returning home. Some of the scenes from the maiden fl ight are 

captured in the pictures below. Photos by David McIntyre. 

CX Cargo fl ies to Spain for the fi rst time 

A new country is being added to 

the network on 15 November as 

CX launches a freighter service to 

Zaragoza – the airline’s fi rst time 

to fl y to Spain. 

The service is being launched 

as the airline seeks out new markets 

to boost business during the 

current airfreight business downturn 

as well as looking towards 

the long-term development of 

the freighter network. 

Zaragoza, Spain’s fi fth largest 

city, is home to a variety of 

manufacturers and its airport has 

become a major cargo hub in the 

Iberian peninsula. 

The city is a key gateway for 

Spanish garment manufacturers 

and CX will be carrying a lot of 

fashion products on its fl ights. 

The twice-weekly service will 

5 reasons we like the 747-8F 

• More cargo – the Dash 8 has 16% more cargo volume 

than its predecessor and can carry up to 134 tonnes. The 

aircraft has been stretched by 5.6 metres. 

• New technology – includes a new high-lift, low-drag 

wing, a simpli ed ap system and new materials, 

including carbon composites, to improve operational and 

structural e ciency. 

• Better economics – tonne-mile costs are 16% lower than 

the 744 and 30% lower than the 742. 

• Adaptability – the 747-8F will integrate easily into the 

existing eets for ight deck procedures and ground 

support equipment. 

• Environmental performance – breakthrough 

technologies, including the GEnx engine, help to reduce 

fuel consumption, emissions and noise. 

depart every Tuesday and Friday, 

operating as an extension of 

the current fl ight that goes from 

Hong Kong to Delhi and Amsterdam 

and returning via Dubai. 

“Spain is a fast-growing market 

as a result of the recent growth 

in the garment industry. Supporting 

the industry’s growth in 

Asia is a great way for us to establish 

ourselves in this new market,” 

Thumbs up from staff 

Teams were very keen to see how the 

Dash 8 performed as B-LJE headed 

out on its fi rst revenue fl ight. CX World 

spoke to some of the staff involved in 

dealing with the huge new arrival. 

The plane is very quiet to operate, even 

compared to our 400 ERFs. I’m really looking 

forward to the long-haul ights as the Dash 

8 will be able to carry much more, but will 

perform much more e ciently. 

Captain Peter Lees 

It handled well, and with all the new features 

that have been incorporated into the 

controls in the cockpit, such as the advanced 

radar system that can even show expected 

turbulence) the plane can almost y itself! 

Captain Greg Brown 

I’m very happy to see the Dash 8 arrive at 

Narita. I’m really looking forward to seeing all 

the new technology pay o . 

Naoki Hosoda, Engineer, Narita 

The company is buying new aircraft, so we 

are still doing business. It’s great we have the 

latest equipment to beat our rivals. It is a bad 

year now, but we’re ready for the future. 

Michael Wang, Cargo Services, TPE 

It’s really cool to see the new aircraft – much 

bigger than the previous model. I like the 

design. It will take some time to get used to 

loading procedures, but it is very exciting to 

have as part of the eet. 

Sara Chang, Cargo Services, TPE 

said Cargo Director Nick Rhodes. 

The Cargo team aims to develop 

other key markets in Spain by 

providing a trucking service from 

ZAZ to Barcelona, Madrid and 

other commercial centres. 

CX has been busy expanding 

its freighter operation, adding 

Bengaluru, Chongqing and 

Chengdu to its network since the 

summer. 

Update from the 

Chief Executive 

Cargo is not exactly the glamorous face of 

the airline business – anyone who’s been 

on a freighter fl ight or through an airfreight 

terminal will know that it’s real nuts-andbolts 

stuff – but it is a very important part of 

what we do at Cathay Pacifi c. 

In a good year cargo will account for 

nearly a third of our turnover, and it has 

played a crucial role in the development 

of our home hub. In 2010 – a golden year 

for the air cargo business – Hong Kong was 

named as the world’s number-one international 

air cargo hub, while Cathay Pacifi c 

emerged as the biggest global cargo airline 

in terms of scheduled international freight 

tonne-kilometres fl own. 

That is a fantastic achievement by the 

CX team, and it’s an achievement we’re determined 

not to see diminished. While our 

cargo business is going through a cyclical 

slump at the moment, we continue to do 

the work needed to secure our long-term 

prospects. 

Projections for the next two decades 

say that world air cargo traffi c will expand 

at around 6% annually, and much of this 

growth will be focused in Asia – and China 

in particular. Sitting on the Mainland’s 

doorstep, we feel bullish about the future of 

cargo in this region and the role our airline 

will play. This is not just talk; we are investing 

to be able to take on this market and 

it’s exciting to see these investments now 

becoming a reality. 

The arrival of our fi rst Boeing 747-8F is 

big news indeed, and these new aircraft will 

off er us a superb advantage on transpacifi c 

routes in terms of operational effi ciency and 

improved service. While Boeing certainly 

struggled with delivering the new aircraft to 

our fl eet, we are now really looking forward 

to making them pay their way. 

Other important developments are 

taking place in the cargo arena, with 17 November 

confi rmed as the date for the topping-out 

ceremony for the Cathay Pacifi c 

Cargo Terminal – another big investment 

that will do great things for the hub – and 

another new destination, Zaragoza in Spain, 

added to our freighter network. 

The current slump is very real but we’ve 

faced these downturns before and always 

come out stronger. I’m certain that the 

investments we’re making now will pay 

big dividends when the growth in cargo 

demand returns. 

John Slosar 

3

4 

Countdown to PSS 

Staff around the network are gearing up for the big change 

With three months to go before the start 

of the biggest system change in Cathay 

Pacific’s history, CX World sat down with 

General Manager PSS Richard Reed to 

see how the PSS project is progressing 

and find out what staff can expect after 

the cutover. 

The PSS team has been busy with a 

series of rehearsals over the past few 

months as well as setting up a command 

centre in the Flight Training Centre to 

prepare for 11 February. 

Where is the PSS project at now and 

what still needs to be done? 

In October we held an extra internal rehearsal 

called Rehearsal 3.5 and we will 

have one more in December which will 

be a full dress rehearsal. That will involve 

350 to 400 staff from around the network, 

and everyone will be doing the 

same roles they will be involved in for 

the cutover. 

The rehearsals have highlighted a few 

issues which need to be addressed before 

the cutover date. 

The importance of clear communication 

was brought home when, during 

Rehearsal 3, we had nine different ports 

participating and all the coordinators 

had interpreted the instructions slightly 

differently. 

CX has never done something this size 

before – we are changing 45 systems 

within nine hours so everything has to 

be coordinated almost with a minuteby-minute 

timeline. Clear communication 

is vital. 

Training is going very well and is in full 

flow and we’re actually holding up other 

department’s programmes because 

we’ve blocked all the training rooms! 

Next up is the training for airports staff 

which is not as technical as the training 

required for the reservations and ticketing 

teams. 

While we’ve done all the functional 

testing we still have to do business process 

testing. During this, staff will practice 

the entire process from inputting 

schedules into the system to making 

reservations, checking people in, ensuring 

the check-in data is coming back to 

our systems and updating frequent flier 

miles. 

While the staff directly involved with 

using the systems will see the difference 

on 12 February, what will other 

staff see? 

Cutover is just the start of the iJourney 

The major change which PSS will 

bring to every staff member is a 

range of new features and greater 

convenience for booking and redeeming 

ID travel. 

“To coincide with the introduction 

of PSS we have taken the opportunity 

to make use of many of 

the extra features and adapt them 

for staff travel,” says Employee Ser- 

CHANGE IN THE AIR: Richard Reed addresses staff at a PSS conference in September. 

They will see some very tired people! 

But if all goes as planned, for the majority 

of staff, they will see no change at all and it 

will be business as usual. 

However, there will be some changes to 

the staff travel system which will affect everyone 

(see below). 

What will happen during the cutover? 

The cutover actually starts six weeks before 

at the beginning of January when we start 

building up the new system by transferring 

data across to Amadeus. 

The approach we have taken is to keep 

on resynchronising and refreshing our 

data and Amadeus data at the same time. 

So when we come to 11 February it should 

only be the last passenger name records 

which have changed on that Saturday that 

we need to resynchronise. 

From 7pm to 4am will be the nine-hour 

cutover phase, and that is why we have 

chosen Saturday night/Sunday morning 

as historically it’s when the fewest new 

bookings come in. Around 7pm we unplug 

CUPID. We temporarily stop taking new reservations, 

move the last data from CUPID 

into Amadeus and do one last reconciliation 

check that the data is correct. 

vices Manager Bob Nipperess. 

These changes will include: 

• Switching from paper to e-tickets 

for all staff travel whether 

leisure, duty or interline; 

• A newly designed and renamed 

travel site, iJourney; 

• Providing all employees and 

retirees both in Hong Kong and 

outports with the same online 

access together with the convenience 

of Flown (pay after 

you fly for travel on CX/KA 

and some of the oneworld 

partners); 

• Ticketing for CX/KA and interline 

partners will be completely 

online and available 

anywhere around the clock. 

A special site on IntraCX has 

Out of the million or so bookings, 

we expect around 3,000 will have to be 

manually updated so there will be a team 

standing by who will take those and type 

them into the system. After that, we repoint 

the CX internal systems from taking 

data from CUPID to taking data from 

Amadeus. We then check that all those 

are working and that the data is flowing 

through correctly. Then, when we are 

confident everything is working properly, 

we will switch on the Reservations and 

Inventory Systems. 

It’s important to remember that CUPAC 

is still running throughout so we can still 

check people in and have flights operate 

safely. But we won’t be able to sell any 

tickets or take any reservations. 

Are contingency plans in place? 

During that nine-hour outage we’ll have 

numerous go/no-go checkpoints and it’s 

relatively easy to roll back, switch back to 

CUPID and try again later. But once we’ve 

switched systems, we can’t switch back. 

To provide a level of confidence, out 

of the 150 airlines that use the Amadeus 

system, none have ever failed to cutover. 

What happens afterwards? What support 

has been put in place? 

The cutover is only the start of the journey 

and specialised help desks will be 

set up and stay online for three months 

to provide support and assistance to 

the network. Basically, the PSS team will 

move from being trainers to helpers. 

been created where staff can 

learn more about the upcoming 

changes. 

“As we get nearer to the 

launch of iJourney, we will be 

providing lots of additional 

information on the exciting 

changes which will be rolled 

out with PSS on 12 February,” 

Bob says.

Fund boost for 

charity efforts 

Staff to be given help to improve lives of others 

Applications are already being submitted to the 

Cathay Pacifi c Charitable Fund (CCF) – a new initiative 

that aims to motivate more staff to get involved 

in charity or community-related activities. 

The CCF was launched on 1 November and gives 

staff the opportunity to apply for funds to support 

approved charitable purposes, organisations and 

projects in which they are already involved or are 

considering becoming involved with. 

The fund is open to all full-time staff working in 

the Cathay Pacifi c Group. 

Chief Executive John Slosar said that Cathay Pacifi 

c’s commitment to being a socially responsible 

company is enshrined in its Vision and Missions. 

“We are pleased to announce the launch of the 

CCF which is a new initiative in addition to our ongoing 

eff orts towards community engagement and 

improvement. 

“We know that many staff across the network 

are involved in all kinds of charitable eff orts and in 

launching the CCF we have a two-fold aim: to give 

fi nancial support to those already engaged in charitable 

activities, and to encourage those who see the 

value in helping others, but haven’t yet taken up the 

opportunity to off er their support.” 

The fund, which grew out of a decision by the 

Swire Board of Directors for CX to withhold part of 

its annual contribution to the Swire Group Charita- 

China accolade for service, product 

Cathay Pacifi c won two coveted titles at the 2011 Business Traveller China Awards, being 

named “Best Asian Airline Serving China (for the second consecutive year) and also “Best 

Airline First Class”. 

General Manager China Sam Swire (pictured left with renowned pianist Zhang 

Yun) collected the awards on behalf of the airline at a ceremony in Beijing on 

2 November. 

“China is an important market for Cathay Pacifi c and we are delighted to receive such 

great recognition for our products and services from this important group of business travellers,” 

Sam said. 

CX currently off ers a scheduled daily service to Beijing and a twice-daily fl ight to Shanghai 

and off ers seamless connection with sister airline Dragonair to cities throughout Mainland 

China. 

More recognition came CX’s way on 10 October when it was named “Best SME Partner 

2011” in Hong Kong by Economic Digest – a title won for four years in a row. 

ble Trust, will have an annual budget of around HK$1 

million. 

The maximum donation given to individual staff is 

HK$10,000 per application. 

The priority for funding will be given to staff involved 

in charitable activities aligned with the CX 

Group’s core areas of sustainable development: 

Youth & Education, Medical, and the Environment. 

Donation recipients should be registered charitable 

entities either in Hong Kong or overseas. 

The CCF will be open for applications year round 

and submissions will be reviewed at bimonthly 

meetings of the Cathay Pacifi c Charitable Fund Committee. 

“Each application will be considered on merit,” 

John said. 

“I’d like to encourage all staff in the Group make 

good use of this new initiative and, in our own small 

way, help to improve the lives of others.” 

Full details can be found via a link in Zone Highlights 

on IntraCX or on the CCD website. 

Volunteer hours 

recognised by 

government 

Cathay Paci c received the “10,000 Hours 

of Volunteer Service” award from the 

Social Welfare Department on 7 October 

in recognition of its contribution to the 

community last year. 

Several CX Volunteers represented 

the airline to pick up the award at a volunteering 

seminar and award ceremony 

held at the Hong Kong Convention and 

Exhibition Centre (pictured below). 

The figure was actually an understatement 

of the airline’s community spirit, 

with the CX team clocking in a total of 

18,410 hours in 2010. 

The youth-oriented “I Can Fly” Programme 

accounted for 8,530 hours while 

sports and recreation charity activities, 

including Pedal Kart, the Green Power 

Walk and Trailwalker, added up to 3,492 

hours. 

CX Volunteers have accumulated a total 

of 207,943 service hours since 2004. 

High-level delegation visits liaison offi ce 

Chief Executive John Slosar and Chief Operating Offi cer 

Ivan Chu led a delegation to visit the Liaison Offi ce of 

the Central People’s Government of the Hong Kong SAR 

(CLO) on 11 October, where they were met by CLO Director 

Peng Qing Hua. 

John shared Cathay Pacifi c’s business development 

and the airline’s future plans, including new aircraft orders 

valued at more than HK$200 billion, with the offi - 

cials. 

Mr Peng commended CX’s eff ort’s in developing Hong 

Kong as an international aviation hub over the years. 

He said Hong Kong’s aviation industry had to keep 

moving forward in order to facilitate the economic and 

social development of the country and to strengthen 

the close connection between Mainland China and 

Hong Kong by promoting cross-border mobility. 

CLO Director Mr Peng (fourth from right) is pictured 

with the CX delegation and CLO offi cials. 

Briefs 

■ Go exploring with 

oneworld 

Print ads appeared in Hong Kong 

media from 1 November highlighting 

the oneworld Explorer roundthe-world 

fare, available from 

HK$28,500 in the local market. 

The fare enables passengers to 

visit between three and six continents, 

with up to six destinations 

in each continent. 

oneworld world currently 

o o ers a 

choice of more 

than 750 

destinations 

and 150 

countries 

worldwide. 

The fare 

is available year-round 

– more details are available at the 

CX or oneworld websites. 

■ Squash Open returns 

Cathay Paci c is back as the cotitle 

sponsor of the Hong Kong 

Squash Open, with this year’s 

event taking place from 13 to 

20 November. 

The event once again features 

some of the world’s top players, 

with the semi- nals and nals 

being played at the Hong Kong 

Cultural Centre. 

A number of tournament players 

will visit Cathay City on 18 

November from 12 noon to 2pm to 

give a clinic for sta . 

As of mid-November, 

there were more than 

4 

million 

page views on the Meet 

the Team minisite 

■ New lounge in Frankfurt 

The First and Business Class 

Lounge at Frankfurt reopened 

on 7 November after extensive 

refurbishment. 

The lounge design is in line with 

other outport lounges such as 

London Heathrow, featuring the 

iconic white Carrara marble reception 

and the Long Table. 

The FRA lounge also features 

a new standard of F&B o erings 

with a range of hot and cold 

dishes, again following on from 

the success in the LHR lounge. 

■ More staff support for 

CARE Team 

A total of 400 more sta volunteered 

for the CARE Team during 

the latest recruitment campaign. 

The global programme now has 

more than 1,000 sta volunteers, 

surpassing the number of former 

Immediate Support Group members. 

5 

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6 

Service with 

heart 

A Canadian passenger on 

CX889 from New York to 

Hong Kong on 2 October 

said the fl ight was the best 

he had ever experienced. 

“I have travelled on different fl ights but 

my experience with Cathay Pacifi c is the 

best. The seat is spacious and comfortable 

with pull-up pillows, the washrooms 

are clean and the crew offer a warm 

welcome. 

The food is tasty with a wide range 

available and is better than those offered 

by other carriers. 

The crew are the best I have met 

– they show concern for their passengers’ 

comfort and always show a smiling 

face. They were very patient and listened 

to the passenger’s needs and were kind 

and willing to help. 

Thank you for making our journey 

an enjoyable one and I look forward to 

travelling again with Cathay Pacifi c in 

the future.” 

A passenger commended 

HKIA Customer Services 

Offi cer Wing Chan for the 

care she showed to two 

young passengers. 

“Customer Services Offi cer Wing Chan 

(pictured below) was working at the 

Enquiry and Assistance Counter on 

6 August and she provided excellent 

customer service and assistance to my 

wife as she checked-in my two sons. 

My boys were travelling on CX830 

to New York that morning and it was 

the fi rst time for them to be travelling 

alone. 

After they had been escorted to the 

gate, my wife realised she had forgotten 

to give them a ‘lucky card’. 

Despite the fact that she was already 

off duty, Wing Chan volunteered to take 

the card to my sons. 

I was touched by her caring nature 

and my sons were very happy to receive 

the card before they took off.” 

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Star letter 

Manchester calling 

With Manchester having the third largest Chinese 

community in Europe, I wonder why CX doesn’t 

have a fl ight there? Surely the reintroduction of a 

passenger service is a viable proposition? 

At present the airport is served three times 

daily by Emirates and twice daily by Singapore 

Airlines and Qatar. Passengers use it as a hub to 

go onto Hong Kong, Asia and Australia so surely 

CX can tap into this market? There’s a CX fl ight 

that sits on the ground in Moscow for 10 hours 

– could this be better utilised? 

Name withheld 

Vickie Yue, Manager Airline Planning, replies: 

We have studied Manchester as a potential destination 

beyond Moscow with a view to better 

utilising the aircraft resources and improving 

profi tability. 

However, as demand is lower when a stopover 

in Moscow is included, the idea is not viable. 

In the long term, we plan to review the feasibility 

of fl ying to Manchester with an optimised 

routing and the right aircraft so that it will generate 

profi ts for CX. 

Wine delight 

For some time now we have been serving 

a white wine in Economy Class which is far 

too sweet for most people to drink. 

Surely we can have a more middle-ofthe-road 

wine such as a Chardonnay which 

would appeal to more people and not just 

a very small minority? Or better still off er a 

choice of wine. 

It seems strange that we enter competitions 

for having the best cellar in the sky 

whilst serving a cheap German Reisling in 

Economy. 


Clara Yip, Catering Manager, Wine, Beverage 

& Catering Supplies, replies: As the 

choice of wine in Economy Class is between 

red and white only, it is always a challenge 

for the wine tasting panel to select a decent 

wine which suits the palates of all the 

Economy Class passengers, while providing 

some variety and excitement in the selection. 

The white wine being served in Economy 

Class is a Moselland Riesling Kabinett 2009, 

a medium dry wine from Germany. 

Riesling as a wine has been appreciated in 

Asia for many years, particularly for its mild 

sweetness, and the style is diff erent from 

what we used to off er in Economy Class. 

There are better and lesser quality wines 

of all grape varieties available globally and 

our job is to fi nd the ones we think fi t most 

Letters to the Ed 

Send us your feedback 

We 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. 

within the right cost frame. 

While it is diffi cult, if not impossible, to please 

all passengers with a single product, we will 

take all the comments into account when we 

make our wine purchase decisions. 

Following an interesting Australian Verdelho 

and the current German Riesling, a South African 

Sauvignon Blanc will be served from early 

next year in Economy Class. 

Indian pilot 

recruitment 

Has the company researched the prospect of 

employing Indian pilots? 

Their standard of English is quite good while 

the number of potential recruits is large in 

today’s diffi cult pilot recruitment market. 


Kelly Crawford, Flight Crew Recruitment 

Manager, replies: Cathay Pacifi c has pilots of 

44 diff erent nationalities, including Indians, and 

we recruit worldwide. 

As we expand, the Flight Crew Recruitment 

team is looking at a number of new markets, 

including India.

itor 

Rewarding 

delivery 

I see that for every new aircraft delivery 

fl ight from Toulouse or Seattle, CX invites 

VIPs and guests from Hong Kong. I think this 

is a good way to enhance our relationship 

with customers. 

However, I think many staff would like 

the opportunity to join a delivery fl ight and 

would consider it both an honour and an 

educational experience to join. 

Is there any way that staff can apply to 

join a delivery fl ight? 

The decision could be made by a rota or 

via a lucky draw system. Or we could use 

delivery trips as an incentive with nominations 

by department/section heads. 


Chris Gibbs, Engineering Director, 

replies: You are correct that we have 

widened our use of delivery fl ights from 

Seattle and Toulouse with great eff ect by 

inviting media, Hong Kong VIPs, frequent 

fl yers, corporate travel buyers and top 

travel agents to experience them. 

The comments are consistently positive 

with the aircraft factory tours, the 

delivery dinner, which is occasionally held 

underneath the planes at the Museum of 

Flight in Seattle, and the delivery fl ight 

itself which allows them to experience the 

special features of the plane and interact 

with CX management, all being well 

received. 

Regarding your suggestion, some staff , 

primarily Betsy Award winners, are already 

invited on delivery fl ights. 

But I agree with your suggestion that we 

should widen access to a limited number of 

other staff every year. 

We are now thinking of how this can 

be achieved with one idea being to ask 

directors to nominate staff , or to nominate 

CX Volunteers who have been especially 

generous with their time. 

Your ideas on how to nominate staff 

for these special events would also be 

welcome. 

Fook alternative? 

Each year the company gives every crew 

a fook calendar for the new year. These 

are very nice, but can we please have the 

option to have a normal desk calendar 

instead? From my point of view a desk 

calendar would be more practical. 

Also, a fook calendar is a Chinese tradition, 

but many of our crew do not have a 

Chinese background. 


Daniel Heung, Marketing Services Manager, 

replies: The Chinese character fook 

means grace or blessed and the calendar 

is one of the most renowned and popular 

items within the travel industry. 

Each year, all CX and KA staff are entitled 

to receive a complimentary fook calendar 

as the company wishes to off er grace and 

blessings to all our staff and their families 

for the coming year. 

Unfortunately, due to logisitical reasons, 

it is not possible to distribute desk calendars 

as well as wall calendars to staff . 

More ID 

nominees? 

As a married person I am entitled to a 

certain number of ID sectors on CX per 

year for my staff travel nominees. It is many 

sectors and it is unlikely they are used up. 

Can we not nominate four people (parents 

and parents-in-law) every year, instead 

of the current two (parents or parents-inlaw 

) but still keep the same number of sectors 

available per staff member? 

It would enhance the benefi t for staff 

at no extra cost to the company. In fact it 

could possibly save/make money as there 

would be a slight revenue increase as more 

ID sectors would be utilised, thereby fi lling 

seats which would otherwise have been 

empty. 

In addition, administration would be reduced 

by not having to amend the nominees 

every year as is done now. 

Glen Swemmer, 

FOP 

Bob Nipperess, Employee Services Manager, 

replies: We have looked at your 

suggestion and similar options previously. 

However, at the time, it was decided that 

we could not make changes along the lines 

you have suggested. 

We do further review ideas when resources 

permit and I will ask that your recommendation 

be added to our list of items 

for further study. 

Bus queue 

reply clarifi ed 

From John Arnold, Manager Property 

& Services: Further to my response in the 

September edition of CX World, I would like 

to clarify that previously crew were aff orded 

priority boarding of the HAS buses during 

SARS following the closure of the crew 

channel at Cathay City. 

I would also like staff to note that HAS 

bus drivers have been instructed to ensure 

that all staff who leave the queue to load 

their baggage in the storage compartment 

will not lose their position in the queue for 

seats. 

debuts 

on an operatic note 

Chief Executive Offi cer Patrick Yeung sang his 

heart out and General Manager Infl ight Services 

Cecilia Leung struggled with a sales cart 

in the inaugural episode of Dragon TV. 

“We are working in a unique environment 

where things change quickly,” said Cecilia in the 

introduction of the 15-minute show. 

“It has always been a challenge to keep staff 

updated with the latest information. Dragon 

TV is our attempt to open up a new channel of 

communication,” she added. 

The show debuted amid cheers at the premiere 

and cocktail party held at Dragonair 

House on 17 October. 

The event was hosted by Patrick and the 

close to 100 guests included the Infl ight Services 

management team and cabin crew. 

During the pilot episode, Patrick took the 

opportunity to introduce himself to staff , demonstrated 

his talent for opera singing and answered 

questions posed by cabin crew. 

The programme also took a retrospective 

KA PEOPLE 

Changing channels 

look at the airline’s crew communications 

through the years. 

Cecilia then joined cabin crew infl ight for 

a day and candidly shared the diffi culties she 

was facing including struggling with the trolley 

cart and learning how to stack items away 

neatly in the small galley space. 

New episodes will be rolled out on a quarterly 

basis, according to Manager Cabin Crew 

Communications & Relations Ivy Choy, with 

ideas, including a Chinese name for the show, 

being welcomed by the producers. 

“Junior crew like to explore ports, but are 

often hampered by the limited time at each 

stop,” says the show’s presenter, Flight Attendant 

Karen Li. “In future episodes, it will be 

great if experienced crew can give them some 

pointers as to what to see, eat and buy at ports 

within a short period of time.” 

The show can currently be viewed on computers 

via Dragonet with plans to make future 

episodes accessible on mobile devices. 

It is little wonder that the host of Dragon TV’s pilot episode, Flight Attendant Karen Li, looks so at 

ease in front of the camera, considering how many times she has done it before. 

For four years, Karen was a presenter on the TVB Entertainment News channel, interviewing 

celebrities and reporting at lm festivals around the world. 

She joined Dragonair in March 2011 to ful l a lifelong dream. 

“I had wanted to be a ight attendant since I was a little girl, but then TVB hired me right out of 

college,” the communications graduate says. After four years in broadcasting, she felt ready to move 

on. 

O ce work was unthinkable and the restless Karen only lasted a month behind the desk 

as a public relations executive. A career in the skies was the natural choice. 

Karen says there are more similarities between being a TV presenter and a ight 

attendant than most would think. And it’s not just the impeccable grooming. 

“Both jobs require excellent communication skills, being proactive and the ability 

to get along with everyone,” she says, adding that these are pro ciencies she picked 

up as a journalist. 

Karen relishes her current job because it allows her to meet a mix of people from 

di erent cultures and backgrounds. 

“As an entertainment reporter you get to meet many glamorous celebrities, 

but eventually that gets a bit boring as they’re all in the same 

industry,” says Karen. 

Although Karen’s reporting days are behind her, there were occasions 

when passengers recognised the ex-broadcaster. 

“I was serving on a ight a few weeks ago when [Canto-pop 

singer] Joey Yung called out to me and we had a little reunion,” 

she recalls. 

Since the airing of Dragon TV, crew members have been coming 

up to her every ight to o er feedback on the show. 

“Most of them wanted to know why I was chosen as the 

host and whether they will be seeing more episodes soon,” 

Karen says. 

7

8 

Cathay Pacif ic 

cares 

STUDY AID: 

CX Volunteers 

help pack the 

computers for 

distribution. 

PC Refresh 

benefi ts needy 

students 

Used computers that once sat on the desks of 

Cathay Pacifi c ground staff have made their 

way into the homes of 300 needy youth in 

Hong Kong’s Yau Tsim Mong district. 

The donation was part of the “Recycled 

Computer Donation Campaign for Students” 

that CX organised with Caritas Hong Kong. 

Earlier this year, the airline launched a 

programme called PC Refresh to replace or 

upgrade all its offi ce computers in Hong Kong 

and outports, with 8,600 computers being replaced 

worldwide. In Hong Kong alone 4,600 

PCs were replaced. 

Three hundred of the Hong Kong PCs 

were tested and recycled, then given out 

to primary and secondary school students 

from low- income families who are relying on 

government subsidies. 

The PCs, distributed by CX Volunteers on 

22 October, are meant to help the students 

with their studies. 

Director Corporate Affairs Quince Chong 

described the partnership as a “three-way 

win”, saying: “We at Cathay Pacifi c have 

been able to recycle a huge number of used 

computers in an environmentally friendly 

way, while Caritas can provide computer and 

vocational training for young people at its 

computer workshop. 

“At the same time, 300 young students 

will get free recycled computers to help them 

with their studies.” 

Each recycled computer set came with a 

central processing unit, a 15" LCD monitor, 

basic software and a one-year warranty. 

The students were able to receive the 

sets free of charge thanks to a HK$300,000 

donation made by CX to cover software and 

maintenance costs. 

A regular column highlighting 

the airline’s commitment 

to the community 

Transferring the same delicious fl avours from the ground 

Swire Hotels dishe 

Sampling a delectable meal at a fi rst-class restaurant is an enjoyable 

experience, but tucking into that same dish while fl ying 

thousands of feet in the air requires great cooperation between 

chefs to ensure the same memorable fl avours are retained. 

Until 31 January, First and Business Class passengers are able to 

sample 30 dishes from the menus of four Swire Hotels restaurants 

in Hong Kong and Beijing. 

The restaurants taking part are Café Gray Deluxe from the Upper 

House and Feast (Food by EAST) from East, both in Hong Kong, 

and Sureño and Bei from the Opposite House in Beijing. 

The menu includes nine appetisers, eight desserts and 19 

main courses and Catering Manager Planning & Concept Design 

Brendan Duff y explains how it all came together to work 

in the air. 

“Initial discussions with the Swire Hotels team started back 

in 2010. As with all our infl ight promotional partners, we outlined 

what it was we were looking for in terms of cuisines and 

products to be featured infl ight,” Brendan says. 

“We then invited the guest chefs along to CPCS for an insight 

into the processes involved in the preparation 

of infl ight meals, our equipment and the 

product range we work with,” he adds. 

The CPCS chefs then did a taste test at the 

restaurants and went through the suggested 

menu and recipes. 

“We then replicated the dishes using the 

same conditions for serving infl ight to see what 

aff ect the cook/chill/reheat process would have,” 

says CPCS Executive Chef Jörg Kubisz. 

Consideration was sometimes needed for 

alternatives for diffi cult-to-fi nd ingredients. 

“For instance, one recipe called for grits 

which were not available to us. Fortunately 

the guest chefs like a challenge and we 

worked to fi nd a compromise that didn’t 

spoil the dish and save the day,” Jörg says. 

One special touch in the Swire Hotels menu is 

the sugar cage on top of the fl oating island des- 

1 

sert from Café Grey Deluxe. 

“While it is easy enough for the pastry chef to produce the cage, 

as it’s only sugar and water, the hardest task is to keep the humidity 

away. So the chef developed a box with dry ice to encase the 

cages in, but it can only hold three per fl ight,” Jörg says. 

“We want our passengers to experience the same dishes infl ight 

as they would on the ground,” Brendan says. 

“The chefs have done a tremendous job of creating and developing 

a selection of dishes that will do just that.”

into the air is a challenge the CPCS chefs relish 

s fl ying high 

Weighing an aircraft 

Weighing a plane takes up to half a day, 

requires multiple heavy-duty scales and 

involves a team of up to 10 Maintenance, 

Repair and Operations (MRO) mechanics. 

It is a complex aff air, but one that is 

essential, since the weight of a plane is 

integral to safety and effi ciency in fl ight. 

The weight of a plane is closely linked to 

how the components of a plane are confi 

gured. 

The weight and centre of gravity also 

aff ect the characteristics of fl ight, such as 

fuel effi ciency and manoeuvrability. 

Although Airbus and Boe- 

MASTERCHEFS: CPCS chefs (from 

left) Raymond Tse, Yip Wing-lun, 

Mark Shek, Kenneth Pun and Henry 

Kan take time out from preparing 

the dishes for the new infl ight 

menu. 

TASTY TREATS: (Left) introducing the new 

infl ight menu to the media were (from left) 

CX’s Brendan Duffy and Quince Chong with Swire 

Hotel’s Clare Laverty and Peter Wynne. 

ing already have fi gures regarding their 

aircrafts’ weight at the time of delivery, 

which includes structural and cabin components, 

their fi gures do not refl ect the 

weight of crew, potable water and other 

operation equipment essential for service. 

The Hong Kong Civil Aviation Department 

requires all Hong Kong-registered 

carriers to weigh newly acquired planes 

after the fi rst two years in service. Aircraft 

must be weighed at fi ve-year intervals 

thereafter. 

A plane also goes back on the scales 

every time it goes through a cabin retro- 

GETTING IT RIGHT: (Above) Pastry Chef Henry Kan makes 

and inspects the delicate sugar cage; (below) Executive Chef 

Gary Thomas inspects a tray of chicken breasts and (left) 

hard at work making polenta. 

fi t, as the weight distribution would have 

changed. 

All CX aircraft are weighed at HAECO or 

TAECO. After the initial measurements are 

taken, the fi gures will be sent to Cabin Engineering 

for follow-up calculations. 

The numbers will then be relayed on to 

Cargo and Airports, which have to adjust 

the plane’s load according to its weight. 

• Thanks to Manager Cabin Engineering 

Diamond Ho, Senior Technical Services 

Engineer Kevin Tang and Technical Services 

Engineer Michelle Kung for their 

assistance with this article. 

1. Before a plane is weighed, its fuel must be let out. The 

potable water system and waste tank system must also 

be drained. 

2. Engineers make sure the scales are placed in the right 

position and the aircraft is pushed towards the scales 

by a tow truck that is attached to the nose gear of the 

plane. 

3. Scales have to be calibrated before each weighing to 

ensure they are displaying accurate information. 

4. Once the aircraft is pushed onto the scales, engineers 

wait two to three minutes for the digits to settle before 

taking down the measurement. Each set of wheels is 

supported by one set of scales in the weighing process. 

5. Engineers make rough calculations with the numbers 

obtained from the scales. If the numbers are noticeably 

off range, the plane has to be weighed again. They also 

usually take the reading of the plane twice to ensure 

accuracy. 

6. The weight of each set of wheels is carefully listed. 

2 3 

4 5 6 

9

10 

Staff ‘like’ the internal People and Service ad campaign 

The People and Service internal campaign was more popular than ever in its second 

year with thousands of staff taking the opportunity to be a “star”. 

“The final number of ads made in Cathay City was 8,074, and, on the last day 

alone, there were 900 ads made,” says Marketing Manager Donna Chen, adding that 

more than 50% of the ads were made by cabin crew. 

“We also had great support from Hong Kong airport colleagues and cockpit crew, 

which was great to see as they are very much the customer-facing staff,” she adds. 

Donna says the response by staff to star in their own ad was “really encouraging, 

because we know that without the full embrace of the CX service vision by our own 

team, we won’t be able to deliver this service excellence externally.” 

This year, an added element was a chance to win a slot on the Meet the 

Team minisite by posting the ad on an individual Facebook page and 

asking people to “like” it. As of press time, the frontrunner had more 

than 12,000 “likes” with more than 75 staff participating in the 

contest. 

The number of ads being made per day spiked dramatically 

after the contest was announced. 

“I think the popularity of the contest was due to a few things 

– the recognition of having their ad posted on The Street as well as 

the chance to tell their story online in detail and show how they 

personally relate to the brand and service vision,” Donna says. 

The outport phase of the campaign will run until 30 November. 

Sweet incentive offered 

Inflight Sales teams boosts crew product knowledge with factory tour 

Three cabin crew received the trip of 

a lifetime when they took part in an 

incentive trip to Provence with a visit 

to the L’Occitane factory organised 

by the Inflight Sales team. 

“Cabin crew who were among the 

top salespeople of L’Occitane products 

entered a lucky draw to join this 

trip,” says Inflight Sales Operations 

Manager Jessica Wan. 

For the final three – Flight Attendants 

Sharon Chan and Haze Wong 

and Flight Purser Jessie Law – this 

was the first time to visit Provence. 

The trip, from 13-18 September, 

included a tour of the L’Occitane factory, 

a visit to one of the supplier’s 

gardens as well as a leisurely boat 

tour. 

“Inflight sales is a specialised and 

challenging retail business, bound 

by hurdles such as limited flight time 

and stock, so we rely greatly on the 

crew to take the initiative to deliver 

the sales service,” Jessica says. 

“Through this incentive trip, the 

first one we’ve ever done, we hope 

the crew can broaden their horizons 

and learn about the full story behind 

the products they are offering to passengers 

onboard,” she adds. 

Sharon says before she visited 

the factory she was sceptical about 

L’Occitane’s “natural” claims. 

“But by touring the factory and 

meeting the suppliers in the fields 

where the herbs and plants are 

grown, I realise they really do get 

raw materials from suppliers for their 

products,” she says. 

Haze says she was surprised to 

learn that all L’Occitane products 

worldwide come from the one factory. 

“It ensures the quality of the product 

worldwide and backs up the 

claim that they really are 100% from 

Provence,” she says. 

“Now I can assure passengers that 

every ingredient is carefully selected, 

the formulas are precisely calculated 

and every process is carefully 

thought out,” Haze adds. 

Jessie says she was impressed by 

Going the extra mile 

BACK TO NATURE: (Clockwise from top right) Inflight Sales Coordinator 

Silvia Ng escorted Sharon Chan, Jessie Law and Haze Wong in Provence. 

the company’s social responsibiliy 

projects. 

“The foundation supports visually 

impaired programmes and they 

put Braille on the packaging, which 

I never noticed before, to help the 

Five colleagues marked the launch of direct flights to Chicago in their 

own way by taking part in the Chicago Marathon on 9 October. 

With about 40,000 registered runners hailing from more than 100 

countries and a huge crowd lining the 42km course, the annual event is 

one of the world’s premier races. 

General Manager Aircrew Philip Herbert conceived the idea during 

the Chicago Mayor’s visit to Hong Kong, and he was joined in the race by 

Employee Services Manager Bob Nipperess, Swire Legal Counsel St John 

Flaherty, General Manager Cargo Sales & Marketing James Woodrow and 

General Manager Corporate Communication CK Yeung. 

James set the best time of the CX team, completing the course in 

3 hours 49 minutes, with the rest all finishing within 4½ hours, against an 

overall time limit of 6½ hours. 

The next event for Philip, James and Bob will be with their respective 

teams in the Hong Kong Oxfam Trailwalker on 18 November. For Philip, CK 

and other CX runners, the Xiamen Marathon beckons in January 2012. ON THE RUN: Bob, St John, Philip, James and CK in Chicago. 

STAR TURN: The ShareRing 

area at Cathay City was 

awash with staff during 

the 16 days of the internal 

campaign. 

visually impaired make an informed 

choice,” Jessie says. 

“I will be sharing the experience 

with other crew to help enhance 

their knowledge and understanding 

of the brand,” she adds. 

Staff show 

support for 

Thailand 

CX and KA staff are doing their 

part to help Thailand as it grapples 

with the worst floods to hit 

the country in five decades. 

Heavy rains since August have 

caused extensive flooding in 

many areas of the country, notably 

in the central provinces north 

of and surrounding Bangkok, 

damaging infrastructure and disrupting 

power supply. 

A three-week fundraising appeal 

to support the Thai Red Cross, 

was launched on 1 November to 

raise money for the humanitarian 

effort in Thailand, with the company 

pledging to match every 

dollar donated. 

Contributions made by CX and 

KA staff amounted to HK$341,708 

as of 9 November. 

In the meantime, CX has managed 

to keep its Bangkok operations 

going, thanks in large part to 

the resilience of staff in the port. 

Operations in Thailand have 

largely remained normal, though 

one of the five daily flights between 

Hong Kong and Bangkok 

had been cancelled for several 

days due to weaker demand. 

“Our staff should be commended 

for their professionalism,” says 

Country Manager Thailand Maggie 

Yeung. 

“All of them tried their best to 

attend to their duties despite their 

homes being flooded. This has 

been the reason why our operation 

has gone unaffected,” Maggie 

adds. 

Maggie estimates that close to 

30% of ground staff in Thailand 

had homes that were seriously affected 

by the flood. Approximately 

25% of ground staff had to move 

out of their homes to seek alternative 

accommodation provided by 

the company.

‘Fantastic’ response 

rate for latest OAS 

Need for more engagement highlighted in feedback from staff 

A record 84% of ground staff in Hong 

Kong and the outports participated 

in this year’s Organisation Alignment 

Survey, giving the CX leadership 

team feedback, viewpoints and 

suggestions on how to maintain the 

momentum for continuous improvement 

throughout the organisation. 

“The response rate is nothing 

short of fantastic,” says Chief Executive 

John Slosar. 

“The OAS is an important part of 

checking in with staff and getting 

their views on how we are doing 

in putting the strategy into action. 

Together with other engagement 

surveys for cabin crew and frontline 

staff at HKIA, this tool gives us a 

comprehensive picture of what staff 

think about how we’re doing.” 

According to John, this year’s OAS 

results carried three main messages. 

“First, we worked hard in communicating 

our Vision, Mission and 

strategies and this has paid off , with 

signifi cant increases in these dimensions, 

putting CX in the top 10% 

compared with other companies in 

the survey database,” he says. 

Second, the enormous amount of 

change the airline is going through 

with PSS and other large scale projects 

has been causing strain in some 

areas, which John says the directors 

are now looking into. 

“The third fi nding is that while the 

CX team understands the direction 

we want to take, we can do more 

LOYALTY CHANGES: Linda Sim (seated left) with her predecessor Katie Rowen, and James Ginns 

(back right) with previous loyalty programme General Manager Paul Loo. 

Finding new ways to incentivise and reward CX’s 

top frequent fl yers is the challenge facing new 

Marco Polo Club Manager Linda Sim. 

Linda was previously Online Booking Manager, 

a role she took up in 2006 when she returned to 

Hong Kong after 10 years managing the Customer 

Sales team in the UK. 

“I really wanted to get back in touch with customers 

as I missed helping people,” she says. 

Linda took over from Katie Rowen in September 

at the time when the Marco Polo Club was 

being brought under the Marketing Department 

(see story right). 

“The restructuring meant new positions were 

coming up in the team and it was an exciting time 

to join,” she says. 

Linda says she is looking forward to adding 

throughout the organisation to 

make sure people feel part of what’s 

going on, and that their ideas and 

opinions are heard and appreciated,” 

says John. 

Chief Operating Offi cer Ivan Chu is 

devoting time to meet with all directors 

to discuss the results and ensure 

appropriate actions are put in place 

– and that staff feel engaged in the 

process of identifying opportunities 

to make things better. 

“There are 120 statements in the 

OAS, measuring 18 aspects of alignment 

and engagement,” says Ivan. 

“The big-picture organisational 

questions are being looked at in detail 

by me and all the directors; we’re 

asking GMs and their direct reports 

to work with their teams and identify 

any opportunity they can to improve 

things within their own areas of responsibility.” 

Ivan says the OAS response rate is 

a clear signal that people care about 

making things better. 

“Our job now is to engage our 

teams, understand their priorities 

and ideas for improvement, and 

get good, practical solutions implemented 

well.” 

Ivan says that the key success 

measure will be seen primarily in 

a positive response to the survey 

statement “This is a better place 

to work now than 12 months ago”, 

which showed a decline since the 

2009 OAS. 

Finding more ways to reward loyalty 

some novel and unexpected elements for MPOs. 

“I feel that there is scope to add some fresh 

components and inject innovative items into the 

mix,” she says. 

“Certainly we have some fl exibility there, while 

still maintaining our premium brand partners for 

which the Club is known,” she adds. 

Finding extra little special ingredients to incentivise 

frequent fl iers is another welcome challenge 

for the MPO team. 

“Overall, the feedback from members is that 

they appreciate the recognition and personal 

touches they receive, but they like to have other 

goals to aim for. 

“So we’ll have a look at what we might be able 

to off er to encourage even greater loyalty from 

our top members,” Linda adds. 

Greater 

focus with 

seperation 

The division of Cathay Paci c Loyalty 

Programmes into the Marco Polo Club and 

Asia Miles Limited allows the teams to 

concentrate on growing the two brands 

in di erent yet related ways, according 

to General Manager Marketing, Loyalty 

Programme & CRM James Ginns. 

As part of the split which happened in 

September, AML was created and MPO was 

brought into the Marketing Department. 

“It was felt Asia Miles is more about a 

mileage proposition and nding ways for 

members to redeem and earn miles. 

“And that is di erent from the MPO 

proposition which is more about the 

loyalty club and o ering rewards for 

ying,” James says. 

“Separating the two allows the 

Asia Miles brand to focus on non-air 

redemption, lifestyle and partnerships, 

while the MPO side can concentrate on 

developing the Club for loyal members. 

“So the division will hopefully allow 

them both to grow but we will still be 

working together, after all, the MPOs are 

still the biggest stakeholders in the AM 

programme,” James adds. 

Bringing MPO under Marketing also 

allows communications to be standardised 

across the the board from the mass mass market 

right down to the individual member. 

“Consistency in messaging is key,” 

James says. 

Briefs 

■ RightChoice enrolment 

for 2012 

RightChoice enrolment for 2012 

is open to all Hong Kong-based 

employees until 30 November. 

Sta are requested to review 

their medical, insurance and 

retirement options for next year 

via PeopleCX. 

The full plan details can be 

found on the RightChoice section 

on IntraCX. 

■ CX and UA emergency 

support boost 

Cathay Paci c and United 

Airlines recently entered into a 

three-year agreement whereby 

each party will support each 

other in case of an aircraft 

emergency in Hong Kong or San 

Francisco. 

The agreement covers activation 

of the emergency control 

centre (CMC), public telephone 

enquiry centre (CEPIC), initial 

airport response and deployment 

of CARE Team members. 

Sta familiarisation visits began 

this month. 

CO emissions per tonne- 

² 

kilometre on the Boeing 

747-8 freighter are 

17% 

lower than on the 747- 

400 freighter 

■ No change for surcharge 

The Civil Aviation Department 

gave approval for CX to charge 

the same passenger fuel surcharge 

as the previous month in 

November. 

The surcharge stays at HK$210 

for short-haul ights and 

HK$1,008 for long-haul ights. 

■ Airport team show heart 

The Hong Kong International Airport 

team presented 32 “heart’ 

awards to sta in September 

to acknowledge the Service 

Straight From the Heart they 

demonstrated over the past few 

months. 

The “heart” winners are 

decided based on the number 

of passenger compliments, 

the e ort they have shown in 

handling di cult situations and 

any constructive and productive 

initiatives to enhance customer 

satisfaction. 

The winners are divided up 

into three categories – Diamond, 

Gold and Jade. 

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12 

NEWS FOCUS 

Vietnam hits 

20 in style 

Chief Operating Offi cer Ivan Chu paid a special visit to 

Ho Chi Minh City on 7 October to join the team for CX 

Vietnam’s 20th anniversary celebrations. 

Guests for the gala event (pictured above), held at the 

Sheraton Saigon Hotel and Towers, included government 

offi cials, Marco Polo Club members, travel industry 

partners, long-service CX staff and media. 

“What started as a joint service with Vietnam Airlines 

has expanded to two Cathay Pacifi c fl ights every day 

between Ho Chi Minh City and Hong Kong, as well as 10 

fl ights per week between Hanoi and Hong Kong operated 

by sister airline Dragonair,” Ivan said. 

To celebrate the milestone, a series of special 

promotions has been launched in the local market since 

the beginning of the year. 

“The 20th anniversary celebration has been a 

wonderful opportunity for us to promote the CX brand 

in the local travel trade and Vietnamese public, with the 

event attracting some positive local media coverage,” 

says Country Manager Vietnam Erica Peng. 

As part of the celebration, a special anniversary Getaway 

Surprise promotion to Hong Kong and four cities in India 

was launched in October, as well as a double Asia Miles 

promotion to Hong Kong. 

Erica says the challenging world economy has not 

spared Vietnam. 

“High infl ation at almost 20%, devaluation of the local 

currency, fi ercer interline competition as well as softened 

demand have made 2011 a less than ideal year,” she says. 

“However we do see some positive signs such as the 

healthy growth in cargo sales, a 34% boost in online 

sales and increases of 9.4% in front-end sales and 7.8% in 

corporate sales,” Erica adds. 

Looking ahead, Erica says the team is expecting 2012 

to be tough as the world economic outlook remains 

unstable and high infl ation continues in Vietnam. 

“But there are also many opportunities in this stilldeveloping 

country,” Erica says. 

“For example, front-end corporate traffi c as well as the 

meeting, incentives, convention and exhibition sectors 

are still growing, and online sales potential is also very 

encouraging. 

“As more multinational companies become more active 

in this market, there is a good chance they will become our 

loyal corporate customers as well as potential partners in 

terms of marketing activities,” Erica adds. 

Erica says the Vietnam travel market is still developing 

and has yet to reach its full potential. 

“The economic and infrastructure development in 

recent years have made it a lot easier for the Vietnamese 

people to visit foreign countries, and for tourists and 

businessmen to visit here,” she says. 

“We have plans to increase capacity both for passenger 

and freighter services to take advantage of the interest in 

this emerging market, subject to traffi c rights arrangements 

between Hong Kong and Vietnam,” Erica adds. 

TAIWAN 

INDIA 

THAILAND 

JAPAN 

Engineering team gives a 

hand to outports 

The Taipei Engineering team ew to Frankfurt in August 

and September to support B744 engine changes as well as 

participating in an engine-change mission in Riyadh. 

The Taipei team also 

took part in a blood donation 

event and encouraged 

other companies in the 

same building as the CX 

o ce to join them. It was 

the seventh time the team 

has taken part in donating 

blood. 

Bangkok team is all heart 

Sta in Thailand spent 24 September, which also happened to be 

CX’s 65th anniversary, at a Veteran General Hospital. 

The team donated cash and essential items and spent time 

chatting to the veterans. 

Teeing off for Marco Polo 

Club members’ day out 

A Marco Polo Club Golf Day was held at Taiheiyo Club 

Narita Course on 4 October. Twenty people participated in 

the competition including General Manager Japan Simon 

Large and Marketing & Sales Manager James Evans. 

Afterwards, MPO members and sta enjoyed a short 

golf lecture by the course general manager and Japan 

Professional Golf Association member Koji Morisaki. 

Awards and prizes were presented to the participants 

including 100,000 Asia Miles and a two nights/three days 

golf package at the Mission Hills Golf Club for rst prize 

winner Akio Tomita. 

Great service makes activist smile 

The courteous attitude shown by the Airport team in Chennai (pictured) 

towards an activist for people with disabilities made headlines when an 

article appeared in the City Express highlighting the team’s great work. 

Rajiv Ranjan, who is the coordinator of the Disability Legislation 

Unit (Southern India) and general secretary of the Disabled People’s 

Organisation, took a CX ght to Seoul from Chennai with a stopover 

in Hong Kong. 

In the article, Mr Ranjan, who travels with a wheelchair, described 

how the ground sta proactively approached him to ask what assistance 

he would require on his ight. 

“The sta asked me about my wheelchair, what kind of support 

I would require and also made a note of my food choices. All these 

answers were duly lled in a wheelchair assistance form and a copy 

of the same was given to the ight crew,” he recalled. 

The team later invited 20 orphans/underprivileged kids 

from the Mercy Centre on a trip to Saraburi province to visit 

the Chokchai farm, which is one of the biggest dairy farms in 

Southeast Asia. 

Consumer events highlight Hong Kong appeal 

Cathay Paci c ight attendants appeared at the JATA Travel 

Showcase 2011 from 30 September to 2 October at the Tokyo Big 

Sight. The event attracted around 120,000 visitors this year. 

The crew appeared at the oneworld stage show and held a photo 

session in front of a oneworld advertisement on a train to promote 

Hong Kong (above left). 

The Japan team also joined the Asia Month event at Fukuoka 

from 8-10 October with CX and KA ight attendants participating 

in a talk show on the event stage (below left). 

The Asian Paci Paci c Festival Fukuoka 2011was designed to 

showcase the charm of the Asia Paci Paci c region and the crew were 

there to highlight the CX/HKTB Hong Kong Style campaign which 

started in October.

Support for roadshow 

The CX Seoul team offered support to the Hong Kong & 

Shenzhen Multi-Destination Travel Road Show organised 

by the Hong Kong Tourism Board and the Shenzhen Municipal 

Bureau of Culture, Sport and Tourism. 

The event was held in Seoul and Osaka on 11 and 

12 October respectively and around 195 local travel 

trade and media attended the luncheons held in both 

cities. The two bureaus showcased the major upcoming 

activities and provided updates on the latest tourism 

resources. 

CX also sponsored a lucky draw prize of two Economy 

Class tickets to Hong Kong and the photo shows Country 

Manager Korea Clarence Chung with the lucky winner, 

Assistant Manager of World Hotel Center Hye-Jin Kang. 

Brightening up 

a school day 

After learning that a local school 

was in need of English reading 

books, nine members of the 

Johannesburg team not only 

arranged for colourful children’s 

books to be delivered but also 

spent the day with the children. 

The team had a great time talking 

and playing with the children 

as well as reading from the books. 

The group was amazed by the 

dedication and commitment of 

the young children and their 

eagerness to learn was very 

touching. 

The team got a chance to 

display their competitive spirit 

during an Action Indoor Cricket 

Teambuilding Event. The team 

split into three groups so everyone 

would have a chance to bowl, 

eld and bat with experienced 

cricket players helping out the 

newcomers. 

Farewelling a beloved 

CX veteran 

The New Zealand travel industry was given an 

opportunity to farewell long-serving Country Manager, 

David Figgins, and also to welcome his successor Ken 

Chiu. 

One hundred and fty VIP guests and former and 

current sta attended a farewell dinner in October at the 

Sky City Grand hotel in Auckland. 

Special guests included four former New Zealand 

Country Managers – current COO Ivan Chu, current 

General Manager Southwest Paci c Dane Cheng and 

former CX sta ers Richard Cater and Bill Rothery. 

Ivan praised David’s 37-year contribution to CX and 

his work in developing the New Zealand route which has 

grown from being an o ine sales o ce to the current 

10-14 weekly services. 

A separate welcome event was held to welcome Ken 

with the major local travel industry clients taking the 

opportunity to meet him. 

HELLO AND GOODBYE: (Top) Ivan Chu (left) and 

Dane Cheng (right) say goodbye to David Figgins. 

(Bottom) Ken Chiu met with Linda and Bill Mabey 

from Stars Travel at his welcome party. 

SOUTH AFRICA 

KOREA 

NEW ZEALAND 

WORLD 

EXPLORER: 

Satomi has a 

“wonderful” 

view of the 

world. 

PORT PEOPLE 

Inspired by the 

seven wonders 

Flight Purser Satomi Aoki used her travel benefi ts to their 

full advantage to visit all the New Seven Wonders of the 

World. 

These were the places chosen in a worldwide popularity 

poll organised by the Swiss-based New7Wonders 

Foundation in 2007. 

In July, Satomi crossed out the last place on her list 

– Chichen Itza in Mexico. 

Earlier this year, she went to India’s Taj Mahal and she 

has also been to the Great Wall of China, Jordan’s Petra, 

Peru’s Machu Picchu and an honorary candidate, the Great 

Pyramid of Giza in Egypt. Before joining CX in 2008, Satomi 

had already visited Brazil’s Christ Redeemer and Italy’s 

Colosseum. 

“I never really thought about seeing all the seven 

wonders until my sister brought up the idea after the Egypt 

trip – the third wonder,” she says. 

Satomi was most impressed with her visit to Jordan. 

“The Jordanians were very friendly and helpful, and it 

was not restrictive for a country in the Middle East. I was 

probably the only female Asian driving a car!” she says. 

Satomi is still debating whether to travel to the Seven 

Wonders of Nature after they have been decided in 2012, 

or switch to trekking destinations after an enjoyable trip to 

Nepal a few months ago. 

Working with passion 

Nilesh Rebello has landed in his ideal job – the Mumbai Assistant 

IT and Administration Manager has always had an 

interest in technology and gadgets. 

“I loved opening up my home PC, sticking in cards, chips 

and upgrades at every stage, and placing fans to cool down 

the graphics card,” he explains. “My mother freaked out initially 

but then got used to seeing my PC in parts!” 

Nilesh is coordinating multiple projects for South Asia, 

the Middle East and Africa and works with the project 

teams in Hong Kong and the country Outport Automation 

Coordinators (OACs). 

“We want to ensure a smooth cutover from Groupwise 

to Outlook for the region and a painless transition for endusers,” 

he says. 

Nilesh has never had a dull day since he moved to the 

Mumbai Town Offi ce in 2008. “We have grown from approximately 

80 staff in 2008 to 260 in two years in India 

alone,” he says. 

He helped with the setting up of the new ports in Chennai 

and Bengaluru, as well as the relocation of the offi ces in 

India, Nepal and Bangladesh. “It has been an amazing ride 

all the way,” he says. 

Nilesh adds that the 

team is inspired by General 

Manager South Asia, 

Middle East & Africa, Tom 

Wright. 

“We work with 

rock star and 

CX legend, 

Tom Wright, 

and I guess 

that’s what 

makes all of us 

want to do our 

best,” Nilesh 

says. 

TECH SAVVY: 

Nilesh revels 

in gadgets. 

13 

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One 

minute with... 

14 

Karen 

Yung, ICM 

Executive 

1. When did 

you join CX? 

I joined as an Airport 

Service O cer at Kai Tak in 1997. 

2. You moved to Crew 

Control after a few years. 

What was that job like? 

We worked on the crew rosters 

and standby duty. I liked the 

irregular hours as I could swap 

shifts and go on holidays. 

3. What was your most 

unforgettable experience in 

Crew Control? 

A typhoon signal No. 10 was 

hoisted and we had to work for 

three days and three nights. 

4. You took up a new post in 

August. What is it like? 

I now look after the pilot training 

programme. It’s more challenging, 

but more stable with normal 

working hours. 

5. How did you get into 

photography? 

I was at a low point in my life a 

few years ago, and I bought my 

very rst camera and shot landscape 

photos in Burma. 

6. How did you parents feel 

about your new hobby? 

They thought I was mad to have 

such an expensive hobby, but 

now they’re happy to see my talent 

for photography. 

7. How did your freelance 

photography get started? 

I took photos of my friends’ 

children in 2008, then started 

photographing weddings a year 

later. 

8. How do you prepare for a 

photo shoot? 

I Google the place and discuss 

shots with the couple. 

9. What has been your most 

diffi cult set-up so far? 

I was in Sydney lying on my 

stomach on a cli shooting a 

couple below. 

10. What is your favourite 

holiday destination? 

I like visiting small towns in 

France and Greece. 

Getting into action 

Four staff slogged it out up and 

down mountains, around landslides 

and through rain and shine for the 

Action Asia 3-day 100km Ultramarathon 

& Hike in Nepal from 1-3 

October. 

Manager Nepal Tom Bellamy was 

joined by Manager Corporate Sales 

Dominic Perret, Assistant Purchasing 

Manager Clara Ng and Senior 

Captain Cosmo Richards for the 

event which attracted 98 participants 

from around the world. 

“The run was hardcore,” Clara 

says. 

“The day before the race we spent 

nine hours on a local bus to a village 

in a ‘secret destination’. All the runners 

needed to walk through a dangerous 

landslide path in the middle 

of nowhere and we were all soaked 

to the skin under heavy rain. And 

this was only the fi rst day!” 

However the mountain views, the 

village people and the friends made 

along the way made it worthwhile. 

“There were nice people and 

great running buddies to meet, 

fresh air and bright blue sky – all 

these things made me more positive 

and motivated me to reach the 

next stage,” Clara says. 

Cosmo, who came in fi rst overall, 

says this was his fi rst multi-day marathon, 

after taking part in several 

multi-day adventure races before. 

“I trained for about 15 hours a 

week beforehand, mainly running in 

the hills with biking and paddling for 

some cross-training,” Cosmo says. 

The best part was during a big 

mountain climb one morning when 

the sun came out about halfway up. 

New Joiners 

Anita Lim, Assistant Corporate 

Communications Manager – Public 

Affairs, CCD 

Anita previously worked in the public aff airs 

department for a local chamber of commerce and 

has also been a journalist at a major fi nancial newspaper 

in Hong Kong. 

“Joining CCD gives me great opportunities to 

participate in a variety of projects ranging from 

policy issues to strategic plans, which can be both 

interesting and challenging,” she says. 

In her leisure times Anita enjoys taking pictures of rural scenes. “My latest 

photography spot was Stonehenge in England,” she says. 

Danny Lo, Engineering Trainee, ENG 

Danny graduated from the Chinese University of 

Hong Kong this year and is looking forward to 

developing his engineering career with Cathay 

Pacifi c. 

“I feel enthusiastic and excited about my new 

job and the new environment, and I am looking 

forward to learning more and facing more 

challenges in my role,” he says. 

Danny is keen on water sports and was in the 

rowing team at university. 

STEPPING UP: (From left) Tom Bellamy, Cosmo Richards, Clara 

Ng and Dominic Perret during the Nepal trek. (Inset) Clara loved 

meeting people in the villages she stopped at. 

“There was an amazing view of 

some snowcapped peaks dropping 

down a gorge and a raging river below,” 

Cosmo says. 

“The worst part was on the fi rst 

day when we had a 10-hour bus trip 

on some really narrow, steep and 

winding dirt roads. At one stage, the 

road was blocked due to landslips 

so we had to get out and walk. 

“We were told it was 

only a few hundred 

meters so I headed off 

wearing thongs. 

“Ten kilometres later, 

I was wet through 

and shivering uncontrollably 

as it had started 

to rain. Not a good start!” 

Cosmo adds. 

CX World welcomes all new staff. Here is a selection of the 

newcomers who recently came on board... 

Geoffrey Hung, 

Engineering Trainee, ENG 

Geoff rey has just graduated from the University of 

Cambridge with a Masters degree in Aerospace Engineering. 

“I spent six years in the UK, during which I had 

some fun new experiences including trial fl ying 

lessons on a powered aircraft and a glider,” he says. 

Geoff rey is looking forward to participating in the 

Pedal Kart Grand Prix. 

“The Pedal Kart race sounds exciting! I also play the cello and have joined 

various orchestras and chamber groups. For sports, I play and watch football 

– come on Liverpool!” Geoff rey says. 

Simon Shek, Flight Simulator 

Technician, FOP 

Simon was born in the UK and moved to Hong Kong 

to develop his engineering career. 

“I hope to develop a strong technical knowledge 

so I can provide high-quality services and support 

for the fl ight crew whilst also fulfi lling my love of 

aviation,” he says. 

Outside work, Simon is a huge sports enthusiast 

and enjoys a variety of sports including basketball, 

football and the occasional wargame. 

“When I need to relax, I enjoy a quiet drink at a cafe or bar and take in the 

view,” Simon says. 

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Rachna turns her life 

around after hard times 

In 2007, Rachna Kapur felt that her world had come crashing down 

around her. 

The Flight Purser from India was dealing with the trauma of the 

stillbirth of her second child; her then one-and-a-half-year-old 

daughter was suff ering from a rare illness; and her husband was affl 

icted with a severe back problem. She felt that she couldn’t possibly 

go on with her life. 

“I was miserable and angry, with lots of helplessness and grief inside 

me,” Rachna recalled. 

But then something unexpected happened. Just days after being 

discharged from hospital, a friend invited her to a workshop where 

Rachna learned a special method of healing 

which went a long way towards changing 

her attitude. 

“It helped me to see the truth. We 

blame other people or our circumstances 

for the way we are,” Rachna says. 

“But the truth is, it is up to us to take 

charge of our lives and make conscious decisions 

that would change our lives.” 

It took her up to two years to overcome 

her physical and emotional 

pains, but Rachna, who is now expecting 

her third child, has managed 

to turn her life around. 

She now uses the healing 

method, together 

with IAM Yoga Meditation 

to stay calm, 

focused and balanced. 

“I’ve always been holistic. 

I’ve tried diff erent healing 

modalities and participated in 

various humanitarian activities in 

my quest for the meaning of life,” 

she says. 

The Quiz 

Our rst prize this month is a three- three- threenight 

stay in a deluxe room for two 

at the New World Shanghai Hotel 

including bu bu et breakfasts and inroom 

Internet. 

The New World Shanghai Hotel 

is located at the southern edge of 

the serene, green acres of Zhong- 

shan Park in the commercial centre of the Changning district of 

Shanghai close to the metro station. 

The hotel is adjacent to the New World Department Store and 

features a health club, outdoor swimming pool and ve restaurants, 

including The Cafe, which o ers a bu et and a la carte dining, and Yue 

1525 which serves traditional Cantonese cuisine. 

For more information, visit www.shanghai.newworldhotels.com 

The second prize winner will receive a two-night weekend stay at the 

Swire-managed Opposite House in Beijing inclusive of daily breakfast for 

two. 

The 99-room glassy boutique hotel is located in the centre of Beijing’s 

Sanlitun village development and is easily the hippest property in the 

city. 

It has three restaurants – Sureño, which serves delectable Mediterranean 

dishes cooked in a wood- red oven; Bei, which combines a spicy 

fusion of Chinese, Japanese and Korean cuisine; and the international Village 

Café. At night, swish lounge bar 

Mesh serves ne wines and inventive 

cocktails. 

The property houses two spa 

treatment rooms and a 20-metre 

pool lined in striking stainless steel 

and illuminated with a ceiling of tiny 

lights. 

For more information, visit www. 

theoppositehouse.com 

To enter, visit the online quiz entry form on the CX World site. 

The deadline is noon on Friday, 9 December. 

WEDDING BELLE: CX’s Chitty Cheung and 

new husband Robert Chow celebrate their 

big big big day day day at at the the the Jockey Jockey Jockey Club Club Club in in October. October. October. 

CHEERS!: CX’s Charles Grossreider (far left) and Clara 

Yip with special guests at the CX WineNow Magazine 

First Class Wine Dinner. 

MAKING A RACKET: The CX tennis team celebrates 

third place in the 27th Inter-Hong Tennis Tournament. 

RUNNING MATE: Mike Richards and 

Joseph Man meet up after the New 

Balance Tsuen Wan 10K run. 

LOADS OF FUN: The Chennai Cargo team 

had a great day out at the Queensland 

amusement park in the city. 

EXECUTIVE CONTACT: TPE Engineer 

Wallace Jean (right) met with CE John 

Slosar in Seattle. 

COLOUR THEIR WORLD: The Johannesburg Airport 

team had a close encounter with Westlife during 

the the band’s band’s tour tour of South South Africa. Africa. 

WINNING SMILE: Flight Purser Mith Lo is 

looking forward to visiting Chicago after 

winning the CX World lucky draw prize. 

LUNCHTIME RENDEVOUZ : Ex-staffer Ian Wilson (centre) 

caught caught caught up up up with with with some some some old old old colleagues colleagues colleagues in in in Hong Hong Hong Kong. Kong. Kong. 

BOWLED OVER: The HKIA team had a bowling fun day in 

September with more than 50 staff taking part.

16 

Getting the chills 

Organisational Development 

& Learning 

Specialist Hilary Cheng 

loved Alaska’s icy cold 

I choose to take a holiday in Alaska for two reasons – the 

mountains and glaciers. 

Actually the best time to go to Alaska is summer, from May 

to early September, but but I went there in mid-September mid-September at the 

start of autumn. It lasts for two to three weeks before winter, 

and the snow, starts. 

You cannot imagine how cold it gets in winter. In Fairbanks, 

the average temperature range in winter is from -26°C to 

-32°C though it can drop down to -50°C. 

Every visitor has to go on the Alaska Railroad as it is the 

major tourist attraction in the region. 

The rail line follows a historic, unspoiled route 

through beautiful countryside and brings you to the in- 

terior of Alaska. There is a good chance you will spot some some 

wildlife, such as moose, along the journey. 

But fl ying over the top of the North America’s tallest peak 

Mt Mt McKinley in a small small plane is is a must must do do as the trip off ers 

breathtaking views of of the mountains. If If the the weather permits, 

the pilot will land on the mountain. 

I was also lucky enough to see the northern lights in Denali 

National Park. It was the fi rst time I have seen this stellar phenomenon 

and it was amazing. 

After three days in Denali, I took the train back to Alaska’s 

capital city Anchorage. From there, you can see six mountain 

ranges and there are more than 60 glaciers and 30 lakes all 

within a 50-mile radius. 

Matanuska Glacier is the largest glacier accessible by car 

and to visit it I joined a guided glacier hiking tour which was 

a great experience. 

Downtown Anchorage is very picturesque with many wall 

paintings along the streets which brighten up the area. The 

Earthquake Park tells the story of the 9.2 magnitude quake 

which struck in 1964 causing 30-foot crevasses and destroying 

the entire area. 

ALASKA ADVENTURE: (From top) breathtaking views from a fl ightseeing plane; 

Hilary on her way up Mayanuska Glacier; and the scenic Alaska Railroad. 

Snap happy 

This month’s contribution comes from Manchester-based 

Senior First O cer Paul Adams and shows a geographical 

phenomenon in Arizona. 

“This shot of beautiful Antelope Canyon was taken 

whilst on holiday with a friend ying around the national 

parks in a Cessna 172,” Paul says. 

“The rock formation is part of an underground cavern 

which is exposed to the elements from above resulting in 

spectacular lighting e ects,” says Paul. 

“It highlights the gradual rock erosion over the centuries 

and o ers a di erent experience for every day of the 

year for the photographer and the tourist,” he adds. 

This national park has been used several times by Hollywood 

including a Britney Spears music video and the 

movie Broken Arrow. 

Travel 

bites 

Every month, CX World invites all 

CX sta sta to tell unusual, interesting 

or just downright quirky tales 

of travel moments around the 

world. 

Sponsored by In 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 

■ Heart of Manila 

Orchid Garden Suites in Manila 

is o ering CX sta a special 

rate of 2,800 Philippine pesos 

per night for a standard room with 

bu et breakfasts. 

The property is a boutique hotel set in 

a pre-war mansion located in the centre of 

Manila ‘s business, cultural, and entertainment 

district. 

Guests can dine at Cattleya Restaurant, 

which serves local and international cuisine, 

and drop by the Tutso Bar for light jazz 

music at the end of the night. 

Go to Travel Desk for more information. 

■ Mellow sounds of the city 

From December to February, music lovers 

will be picnicking at Bangkok’s Lumpini Park 

on tropical winter afternoons for the annual 

Sunday Concerts in the Park. 

The orchestral ensemble plays both Thai 

and Western classical music and well-known 

Broadway tunes. 

The Music in the Park series has been 

a popular draw since it began, and now 

attracts an audience of up to 2,500 for each 

concert. 

Go to www.bangkoksymphony.org for 

more information 

■ Michael Jackson immortalised 

Michael 

Jackson’s 

artistry has 

now been 

transformed 

into 

a dazzling 

stage show 

by Cirque 

du Soleil. 

Michael 

Jackson THE IMMORTAL World Tour is a fusion 

of visuals, dance, music and fantasy that 

incorporate all of the star’s signature moves. 

The tour will visit major north America 

cities until July 2012. Go to www.cirquedusoleil.com 

for more information. 

SHOW US YOUR TIPS! 

CX World welcomes sta travel tips from 

across the network – email us at CCD#SCT 

HK$500 for a travel tale!

A new era begins for Cathay Pacific's cargo operation with the ...

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