Sing Jet Kerosene

ICE Brent

Passengers are getting a brand new home away from home with the opening of The Bridge, the Group’s sixth lounge at Hong Kong International Airport, in late October.

The Bridge was built to meet the need for more lounge capacity in Hong Kong as the airline contin-ues to grow, according to General Manager Product, Toby Smith.

“And because we have now have six different lounges in our Hong Kong hub – compared to other airlines that may just have one or two big lounges – we are able to offer our passengers more choice. Choice not only in terms of location, so that they can always have a lounge close to their de-parture gate, but also in terms of

style and environment,” says Toby.The result is a 2,567 square me-

tre space designed by Foster + Partners, the architectural power-house behind flagship lounge The Wing.

“While The Wing is very expan-sive with open ceilings, and The Cabin has a more vibrant, youth-ful feel, we wanted The Bridge to be more residential, with a warmer atmosphere,” says Toby.

This is evident in the choice of materials. Floors are lined with wood and plush carpets, while walls are decked with warm bronzes and coppers. The furnish-ings are what people might expect to find in a home, such as comfort-able sofas and armchairs, display cabinets and table lamps.

The lounge’s signature feature is The Bakery, where specialist chefs bake bread, pizzas and pastries on the spot. “This will likely be a very popular feature with our guests, especially with the smell of fresh bread permeating the area,” says Toby.

Toby’s personal favourite spot is The Long Bar. “Behind the bar, there’s a fantastic view of the apron, with the view of aircraft tak-ing off against the backdrop of the hills of Hong Kong,” says Toby. “At sunset the area is flooded with golden light – a perfect spot for an early evening drink before a flight.”

Other features include The Cof-fee Loft, a self-service dining area called The Bistro, an IT zone and nine shower suites.

“Initial feedback from passen-gers has been very positive, and I would like to thank everybody involved for enabling us to meet the very challenging time frame,” says Toby.

The Product team now targets to renovate The Pier near gate 62 to 66 starting the third quarter of 2014. First and Business Class renovations are expected to be completed by the second quarter of 2015 and 2016, respectively.

Take a guided tour with Toby now!

A simple swipe of an iPhone or iPod touch is now all it takes to get to your flight. On 7 November, CX and Dragonair made the Mobile Boarding Pass service

available through Passbook on iOS, enabling passengers to scan their device without having to use any other mobile app.

After checking in online or through the mobile site or app, passengers simply click on the “Add to Passbook” button to store their Mobile Boarding Pass.

Integration with the location and time-aware functions of iOS devices means customers will see their boarding passes pop up on the mobile device’s “lock” screen when they get close to the originating airport and time of departure.

“Mobile will be one of the most important channels for us in 2014,” says Manager Digital Retail Cathy Hornby (left). “Having migrated our infrastructure to a new platform, we’re able to start innovating and improving the customer experience.

“Passbook is one of the first ways we’re adding new elements to the experience. Many customers are migrating from paper-based tickets to digital boarding passes and we want to ensure their experience is straightforward and user-friendly.”

The development of the Passbook function for CX and KA was the result of a close collaboration between the e-Business team, Information’s Management’s Innovation Centre and ITM back-end staff. CONNECTIVITY COUNTS: The project team from ECX/IMT is working hard on

improving the customer experience on mobile.

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We are getting close to the end of what has been quite a challenging – but at the same time productive – year.

The economic turnaround that we were all hoping for has yet to fully arrive though things on the business side have at least remained stable. The anticipated cargo peak has finally materialised – though it’s a softer peak than what we’d hoped for. Our weekly cargo revenues remain some 25% lower than they were three years ago. Our passenger business, meanwhile, has been a positive for much of the 2013. While the traditional autumn business travel peak has not quite hit the highs we expected, revenue growth continues to outpace capacity growth, and that is a good thing.

Astute revenue management has played a big part in keeping our passenger business buoyant, as has the addition of new destinations throughout the year. Most of the new routes added by Dragonair have been performing well and last month saw two routes launch on the same day – Malé for CX and Siem Reap for KA. Initial indications are that both these routes will make a good contribution to the business.

Another important development on the passenger side in 2013 has been the rapid rollout of Premium Economy Class, which will be available on all 85 of our long/medium-haul aircraft by the year end. The take-up for PEY has met expectations, with more and more passengers finding value in taking the incremental step up in the travel experience. Loads for Premium Economy have been hitting 90% on routes such as Frankfurt, which shows that if the product is good, passengers are willing to pay. This has had a positive effect in terms of boosting passenger yield in the back end of the aircraft.

The next step for PEY is the regional rollout, which began in earnest at the end of October. Having now reached a critical mass in terms of aircraft with the product flying around the region, it makes good sense for us to tap into this new business segment. The initial take-up has been on the slow side but efforts are being made to promote upselling as the benefits of a more spacious seat and cabin become clear even to passengers flying short-haul.

John Slosar

The long-awaited cargo peak finally kicked in at the end of October – about three weeks later than expected and still not as strong as forecast.

CX began ramping up its freighter sched-ule – particularly on transpacific routes – as products started move in greater numbers out of the key manufacturing centres in Asia.

In the week ending 2 November, the airline operated 35 freighters to North America – up from 29 a month earlier – and that number was expected to climb to 39 in subsequent weeks.

Freighter capacity to Europe has remained at a steadier level – 10-12 per week – which is a long way behind the 20-plus freighters operated each week during the 2010 peak.

“It’s been encouraging to see some pick-up in demand, and we expect it to carry through to the second week of December,” says Mark Sutch, General Manager Cargo Sales & Marketing.

“However, while we have certainly moved into a year-end peak, it is a softer peak than in recent years and the overall air cargo mar-ket still remains highly challenging – weak demand and overcapacity continue to affect the entire airfreight industry.”

IT products ranging from new iPads to the Microsoft Xbox have been the main driver of the recent increase in demand, with a boost in exports out of manufacturing centres such as Western China and Hanoi in Vietnam.

Charters and extra sectors to the US, Eu-

rope, India and Australia have been mount-ed to cope with the rush.

Business is getting a boost from the annu-al shipment of Beaujolais in mid-November with 1,600 tonnes of the wine being carried this year, most of it bound for Japan.

Four freighters will be diverted from New York to help carry the wine, travelling east-wards to France and then on to Hong Kong.

A further surge is expected later in the month as Christmas mail begins to move, particularly from the UK to Australia.

Mark says that CX will be helped by the strength of its networks for both freighters

The four-times-weekly service to the Maldives successfully got off the ground with the first flight, CX601, welcomed with water cannons at the airport in Malé on 27 October (pictured left).

All arriving passengers were treated to a Bodu Beru dance performance and served traditional kurumba (coconut water). Passengers were also given souvenirs and certificates.

VIPs present included Minister of Tourism Maldives Ahmed Adeeb, Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China Yu Hongyao and CX GM South Asia, Middle East & Africa Charlie Stewart-Cox.

and passenger aircraft bellies. “The recent addition of Guadalajara to our

transpacific network is already looking en-couraging, opening up a new market out of Mexico,” says Mark.

“Together with Miami, which acts as a hub for freight into and out of Latin America, we now have a much stronger presence in this growing region.”

Mark says that CX will continue to “chase the cargo” while the overall market remains soft and is actively looking into adding more destinations in the Americas, Southeast Asia and South Asia.

The “Always Game” HK Sevens campaign won a “Special Citation for Outstanding TV Campaign” at the HKMA/TVB Awards for Marketing Excellence in October.

Tuesday has become a red letter day for cost-savvy CX and KA fans ever since the launch of “fanfares” in October last year.

“fanfares” once again became the talk of the town when the two airlines rolled out “Birthday Bon-aza” offers in late October to cel-ebrate the promotional platform’s first anniversary.

These include a “FanVan” that tours the city to give away 200 free tickets over four weeks, as well as Asia Miles and hotel giveaways.

For fans of the airline, the best surprise came last – “fanfares” tickets were priced at merely HK$50 across the board!

Over the past year, the “fan-fares” website has attracted over nine million site visits, with more than 140,000 sectors sold. A total of 71 destinations in 25 countries across the CX and KA networks have been covered by “fanfares”.

These impressive figures show how “fanfares” is a win-win initia-tive for both customers and the company, according to Manager Digital Retail Cathy Hornby, who looks after the project.

“It is very encouraging to see that ‘fanfares’ has been selling very well. Many travellers consider it as the first port of call when they are looking for travel packages of great value,” says Cathy.

The success of “fanfares” is re-liant on the cooperation of many departments at CX, including Hong Kong Office (HKO), Rev-enue Management Operations

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(RMO), Marketing and Corporate Communication (CCD).

HKO plays a key role in present-ing week after week of bargains for customers while ensuring that fares are competitive in the mar-ket.

“HKO works closely with the RMO team to identify the desti-nations and patterns that suit the needs of different travellers,” says Alan Lui, Manager, Passenger Sales Hong Kong.

“Sectors to regional hotspots such as Japan, Korea and Thai-land are always sold out in the blink of an eye. Long-haul offers tend to be booked up quickly too,” says Alan. “Some niche markets, such as Phnom Penh, are also gaining popularity.”

Meanwhile, Marketing staff are busy drumming up excitement about what “fanfares” has to offer.

“The ‘fanfares’ core team came up with the ‘FanVan’ idea so that locals from different corners of Hong Kong can participate in our celebrations,” says Grace Cheung, Manager, Marketing Communications.

“The game’s simple but the prize is big,” she says. “To win free tickets, all pedestrians need to do is to keep an eye out for the van, flag it down by striking a unique

Last month’s article talked about how PSS Phase 2 will transform the business through business process re-engineering (BPR).

With BPR nearing completion, the next step for PSS Phase 2 is to analyse what the impact of the new processes will be for staff and the business.

When managing a change of the size and magnitude of PSS Phase 2, it is important to use effective change management processes, tools and techniques in order to achieve a successful outcome for the business.

One of the most important ways these changes will be managed is through the role of the PSS Phase 2 Business Change Leader (BCL), who will be responsible for leading the change in their respective business unit.

Right now, all of the different types of change impacts are being analysed by a team of change analysts in PSS Phase 2 who work closely with the BCLs and their teams to develop change plans for each impacted business unit.

Ports will also have change plans to help implement new changes at a port level, and will be managed by the Airport Services Manager.

Eventually, each impacted business unit and port will have their own change plan to help them implement their changes smoothly with support from the PSS Phase 2 team.

This is an important tool for managing all the changes associated with introducing new processes that will then need to be communicated to staff at the right time.

See the PSS site on IntraCX for information on your Business Change Leader.

pose, and answer an easy ques-tion correctly.”

Meanwhile the CCD team held a media kick-off event and other press gatherings to spread the word

Since the kick-off, the celebra-tion has attracted more than 40 ar-ticles in newspapers, magazines and online platforms.

“FanVan” was a success

throughout, attracting crowds of hundreds ever since it took to the streets.

It is also a hit on social media, with videos and Facebook posts attracting more than 528,000 views.

The van has made rounds in Kowloon Tong, Causeway Bay, West Kowloon and Shatin, among other locations.

Award have been received left, right and centre in recent months. Here’s a roundup of Cathay Pacific’s latest wins:

CX was named “Inflight Retailer of the Year” at the 2013 Frontier Awards in October for demonstrating product innovation, effective marketing and professional service.

CX took the “Award for 10,000 Hours of Volunteer Service” from the Social Welfare Department’s Volunteer Movement for recording more than 12,000 hours of volunteering in 2012.

In October, CX took the “My favourite aircraft seat design (First Class)”, My favourite inflight entertainment” and “My favourite service team in the skies” accolades at the U Magazine Travel Awards.

CX took the “iCMG Architecture Excellence Awards” for defining the right processes and governance mechanisms in IT architecture.

The careers section of the official Ca-thay Pacific website is now sporting a fresh new look.

The new website serves as an in-tegrated platform for the recruitment campaigns of pilots, cabin crew and ground staff.

“We have a clear employer brand direction across different job groups in the revamped website,” People Devel-opment Manager Jesse Lui says.

Insightful details about office jobs on the ground are a key feature of the new site.

“We’re one of the top brands for pi-lots and cabin crew, but in other fields such as IT or finance, an airline may not be the first thing that pops up in the mind of jobseekers,” says Jesse.

The new website is designed to make it easier for CX to find the right fit for less well-known ground positions.

The revamp was also driven by the need to attract the younger generation that CX targets to hire.

“Our careers website has been the top channel for Hong Kong job seek-ers to seek CX career information and to make job applications, and the younger generation is a lot more tech savvy,” says Jesse.

To engage younger audiences, the new site features videos and testimoni-als from colleagues across the whole

range of the airline’s operations, from Marketing to Engineering.

“We have produced one-minute vid-eos of some 30 staff scouted by Per-sonnel or nominated by department heads, plus longer video features that explainour employer brand and di-verse job opportunities in more detail,” Jesse says.

The videos were shot without scripts to authentically capture the perspec-tives of CX staff.

The new site also connects to a number of micro-sites that focus on a younger audience and entry-level po-sitions, such as cadet pilots, manage-ment trainees, flight attendants, customer service officers and in-terns.

All videos are concurrently available on CX’s official YouTube channel to maxi-mise exposure.

“We hope the new website will give job-seek-ers a clearer picture of what our airline is all about and some of the exciting careers we offer, ultimately attracting more people to work with us,” Jesse says.

Penang switches to KAThe Penang route will switch from CX to Dragonair with effect from the 2014 summer sched-ule. The change is being made for commercial reasons.

From 30 March, KA will take over the flights to and from PEN using an A330-300 aircraft.

The schedule will include the daily KA692 morning departure from Hong Kong, returning as KA692 the following day, and the three-times-weekly KA633/634 turnaround flight.

Bruce Lee tribute

CX pays tribute to kung fu legend Bruce Lee in November, marking the 40th anniversary of his passing.

The airline is celebrating Lee’s achievements with an inflight selection of his iconic works including films such as The Big Boss, The Way of the Dragon and Fist of Fury, the TV series that made him famous, The Green Hornet, and two documentaries.

Read stories on how Lee achieved global stardom in Dis-covery magazine and visit the website www.cathaypacific.com/discovery for more in-depth and exclusive features.

Bright Ideas campaignCX has begun trialling an exciting new idea suggestion tool, Spark, as a means to drive innovation within the company.

This crowd-sourcing platform allows users to gather in an online community, from where they can see challenges, submit ideas, comment on other peo-ple’s ideas, “like” suggestions, and provide feedback to the community.

The Spark platform is being opened up to a companywide challenge this month, with ECX calling for innovative ideas for the Mobile Aptitude Challenge.

iPad Minis and other prizes will be on offer – see Daily News for details.

Asia Miles relocatedCNAC House, adjacent to Drag-onair House, is the new home for Asia Miles Limited.

The whole team relocated on 28 October and the move was celebrated with a pig-cutting cer-emony on 6 November attended by senior management.

The new AML address is 1/F CNAC House.

Cathay Pacific is launching an ex-citing new IT trainee programme for university graduates to build up the local talent bank.

The programme, scheduled to start in September 2014, will see 10 trainees rotating through a range of IT disciplines as well as spending time with business units. They will also be mentored one-on-one and supported to develop their technical skills.

After graduating from the pro-gramme, successful trainees will be well placed to work their way up the career ladder depending on their performance and the op-portunities available.

“We are launching the IT trainee programme to build for the future. People are our most important as-set, so it’s important that we build

up our own talent pool through on-the-job training,” says Director Information Technology Joe Lo-candro (right).

“We have also observed a gen-eral shortage of IT talent in Hong Kong, with university enrolment in IT diminishing over the past few years in favour of finance and banking,” Joe says. “As one of the home brands of Hong Kong, it’s part of our responsibility to devel-op the local IT industry by expand-ing the number of jobs available for graduates.”

Programme content will be de-vised to attract candidates of the highest calibre.

“There will be breadth and depth to the challenges that train-ees face, because we’re a large and complex industry,” says Joe.

“We support everything from on the ground to in the air, from cater-ing to cockpit communications, so there’s a lot of scope and technol-ogy involved.”

Trainees will have the chance to work on all the technologies

changing the face of IT in the avia-tion industry today, such as cloud computing, mobile apps, RFID tag technology and web-based activi-ties. They’ll also learn about good practices and project manage-ment.

Feedback so far has been posi-tive, with hundreds of students indicating interest at career fairs and talks held at local universities.

Online applications began on 1 November and will close on 12 January 2014. Interviews will com-mence in February and March of next year.

Applicants have to possess right of abode in Hong Kong and hold a Bachelor’s degree in IT, En-gineering or related disciplines.

Visit www.jobsatcathaypacific.com/itgraduates now!

Letters to the Editor

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The efforts of the Baggage Services team impressed a young passenger.On 25 August, a passenger with a young child travelled from Osaka to Hong Kong, only to find that the child had left his backpack at the airport.

Prior to boarding, the passenger beseeched CX airport staff to keep an eye out for the bag, which was found before the plane landed in Hong Kong. The Osaka team quickly arranged to send it over on the next flight.

The HKIA Baggage Services team couldn’t locate the passengers at the airport but finally were able to relay the good news by phone. The passenger returned the next day to retrieve the backpack.

The child showed his delight by giving the team – David Tang, Jeffrey Tang, Kenneth Kam, Henry Wai and Tony Tong – a sweet thank you letter and a smiley face brooch.

The crew of CX162 came to the rescue when a passenger lost her engagement ring inflight.A passenger was en route to Sydney from Hong Kong on 29 August when she accidentally dropped her engagement ring.

“I was anxious and stressed throughout the flight, thinking that I wouldn’t find it,” the passenger says. “But the amazing crew didn’t give up! They started crawling on the floor searching for the ring after other passengers had left.”

When they came up empty handed, the determined team called an engineer to dismantle the seats, where they ultimately located the passenger’s ring.

“The relief I felt was indescribable. I can’t thank these people enough!” the passenger says. “It reminds me of why we have been loyal to CX for the past six years.”

The couple later took to Facebook to express their gratitude.

that could be recycled instead end up in Hong Kong’s landfills, which are already close to full.

Hong Kong is way behind many other Asian countries in terms of its recycling efforts. CX staff can do more to help, but it would seem that a bit more edu-cation is needed.

Hong Kong ground staff

Evelyn Chan, Environmental Projects Manager, says: Thank you for writing in on this issue.

Hey operatorWhy can’t CX have an operator -manned telephone directory service that can assist people who are calling? It is really annoying and troublesome that both staff and visitors alike are unable to pin down the phone numbers of certain individuals or departments. Surely we can have staff who are on modified ground duty due to sickness/injuries perform this function so there is no additional cost to the company.

Hong Kong ground staff

Simon Sing, Assistant Manager – Facility Services, replies: Thanks for your suggestion. Visitors to Cathay City should be prepared to know the name and direct phone number of the CX staff they are visiting. CX City is not a public place for touring unless visitors have made appropriate appointments. All our staff direct lines are not supposed to be revealed unless the staff disseminates this directly beforehand. 

The CX corporate directory is

What a wasteCan the Environmental Services team do something to promote a better commitment to recycling at Cathay City?

Even though we have recy-cling bins on The Street and in lift lobbies and pantries, I’ve no-ticed that most staff continue to dump paper, cans and plastics in the nearest waste bin. This means that all those materials

Indeed, we have also noticed stray cans and plastic bottles in the general waste bins that could be better treated in the re-cycling bins for these materials.

Since the time when we moved into CX City in 1998, we have been tackling the issue of waste in a number of ways. From the get-go, the Property Services Department has been working closely with the Envi-ronment Team on an appropri-ate recycling strategy, design-ing and installing CX’s office recycling bins. As soon as glass recycling became available in HK, this was promptly added to our recycling scheme both inflight and in our offices in 2012/2013.

Although the bins are current-ly labelled with photo examples of what types of plastic, metals or paper can be recycled, we agree there is room for more clarification and awareness-raising amongst staff. We are actively looking into different ways of achieving this. Watch this space!

The winner of the CX World Star Letter wins a pair of decidedly quirky Quarkie earphones from the UK. Quarkie earphones were created by a British and Asian design team of music lovers, marrying

striking sound with eye-catching designs.This month’s winner wins a pair of Viper Head earphones featuring British studio-monitor sound

quality. Find Quarkie at Sogo, HMV, CD Warehouse and other outlets in Hong Kong.

Short-changed?

retrofitted across the fleet and we expect this to be completed by the end of 2014. The new seat offers an extensive recline, extended legrest and innovative cradle motion. The seat pitch has been increased from 45 to 47 inches, and each seat is en-cased in a fixed shell ensuring that pas-sengers’ living space is not encroached

Some of our fleet still feature the “vintage” Business Class seats, with manual recline and leg rest, as well as non-AVOD inflight entertainment. As cabin crew who oper-ate in these cabins, I often listen to pas-sengers complaining about these seats.

Some of them feel that they are short-changed having to sit in these seats in-stead of the newer ones. One incident on my flight was having the seat back drop twice on a Marco Polo Gold passenger’s knees when the person in front was trying to recline his seat.

When will these seats be changed, if ever? We have encountered five changes (two regional and three long-hauls) and these seats are still around. Also, is there a difference in price when passengers fly with these old seats?

Lastly, is it possible to notify the pas-sengers in advance what kind of seat they’re getting so they won’t be surprised when they get on board?

ISD staff

Manager Product – Premium Cabins & Ground Rachel Khong, replies: Thanks for your feedback. The new Regional Business seats are being progressively

upon by the passenger in front. The seat features independent electronic controls for recline and the legrest.

As for price, our fares are market driv-en. Finally, notifying passengers about the type of seats they’re getting will be chal-lenging, given inherent changes to aircraft rotation and deployment plans.

Letters to the Editor

7

available on IntraCX to allow staff to search for up-to-date contact information of their colleagues. An Interactive Voice Response System is also available on 2747-5000 to direct calls of customer to various service functions at CX.

Lights offThe lights on the morning Kwoon Chung buses are always on and I think it is a waste of fuel and energy. It also creates unnecessary heat and makes the air conditioner less effective. Are there regulations which mandate the lights to be on? If not, can we consider turning them off?

Hong Kong ground staff

Johnnie Lau, Transport Services Superintendent, says: Thanks for bringing this to our attention. There are no regulations that involve turning on the lights of Kwoon Chung buses in the mornings.

The fact that the lights are on is most likely an oversight on the driver’s part – they may not be aware that the lights are on, or have simply forgotten to turn them off after working the night shift.

When this happens, staff are more than welcome to remind the driver to switch them off to avoid energy wastage.

Don’t fix it!

A quick comment on the First Class bathroom upgrade on the 777 fleet. Who came up with this design? The cheap, fake wood-grain trim looks very out of place and extremely dated. The old product was neat, clean and very stylish in my opin-ion. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!

FOP staff

Manager Product – Premium Cab-ins & Ground Rachel Khong, re-plies: Thanks for your comments. In conjunction with the First Class re-fresh we have improved the design of the lavatories to address known functional issues.

The lavatories were also given a new look to complement the mate-rial palette adopted for the refreshed First Class suites. The wood grain trim being referred to is the same as that adopted for the in-suite tables to inject a touch of warmth.

Dragonair Second Officer Jeff Yu is good at working out optimum distances – not only when he’s doing a flight plan, but also during javelin throwing.

“Following my father’s footsteps, I threw my first javelin when I was 15 years old,” says Jeff. “The sport is all about pursuing perfection. In order for the javelin to go great distances, the athlete has to run at maximum speed with his javelin aimed at the right angle.”

Jeff was a star on the field and became a representative of the Hong Kong team in 2006. In the same year, he achieved a distance of 57.25 metres – a Hong Kong record for six years.

Over the years, Jeff participated in a number of competitions, including the Macau 2007 Asian Indoor Athletics Invitation Tournament and the Asia Junior Athletics Championship.

“However, I consider myself a beginner compared to athletes from other countries,” Jeff says, humbly.

Jeff joined KA this year, manoeuvring aircraft full time. He still feels closely connected to javelin throwing, because the profession shares similarities with his favourite sport.

“Flying an aircraft is about managing four forces acting on the aircraft simultaneously – lift, weight, drag and thrust,” Jeff says. “In fact, similar mechanics applies to javelin throwing.

“For a successful throw, you have to build up enough momentum in the javelin with a run-up and release it at a high speed with the right ‘angle of attack’. The angle of attack is actually a key concept in aerodynamics, referring to a certain angle the aircraft should point to for maximising lift,” the athlete says.

The latest addition to the Dragonair fleet, a brand new A330-300, took off from Toulouse on its inaugural flight to Hong Kong on 26 Oc-tober.

B-HWM is Dragonair’s 20th A330, bringing the total Group fleet to 41.

KA has been a pure Airbus carrier since 1993, when the airline acquired its first A320 aircraft.

The new A330 comes with a two-class configuration with the latest Business and Economy class seats. StudioKA, the airline’s brand-new inflight entertainment system, is also fitted in all seats.

“We are very glad to welcome the new A330 to our fleet. This combination of new aircraft, new products, and an increasingly strong net-

work will bring us ever closer to one of our key visions – to be the world’s best regional airline serving China and beyond,” said KA CEO Pat-rick Yeung during the delivery trip.

Also joining the trip were a handful of 2013 Betsy Award winners, outstanding KA staff, as well as winners of the CX Engineering Awards.

The party toured Airbus’ impressive final assembly line and dropped by some popular tourist attractions.

The delivery went according to plan and the new aircraft landed at HKIA on the morn-ing of 27 October.

“I would like to thank our delivery team for their hard work in bringing the new aircraft into the fleet, and congratulate our award winners for their fantastic dedication,” Patrick said.

Cargo’s Clifford Kwok (above, far right) used a HK$10,000 donation from the CCF to fund activities held by Feeding Hong Kong, a locally registered charity.

Founded in 2009, Feeding Hong Kong is the only food bank in the city that redistributes surplus food to the needy.

The money was used to support “Bread Run”, a campaign that collects unsold fresh bread from bakeries. Clifford personally took part in the “Bread Run” by collecting bread and buns around Hong Kong, and sorting out items that can be redistributed at a warehouse afterwards.

The Cargo Sales Development Manager has been actively involved in Feeding Hong Kong from the get-go, taking advantage of his CX connections to provide financial support and food donations to the charity, such as organising food drives at CX City.

The charity also raises public awareness on poverty and promotes healthy meals to less-advantaged communities.

Another campaign is “Breakfast Club”, which provides nutritious morning meals to underpriviledged schoolchildren.

Feeding Hong Kong currently distributes more than 16,000 meals to 4,000 people each month.

Visit www.feedinghk.org to find out how you can help!

With CX sponsorship, ISD’s Angelica Malig was able to contribute to a sustainable forestry project in Agusan in the Philippines.

CX funding made it possible to construct a 700 metre pathway through a

near natural forest to access an area where disabled people planted local tree species.

The Inflight Service Manager used her CX funding to cover the costs of construction materials, labour and tools.

In March 2013, Angelica took part in backbreaking work that included levelling the path and installing drainage systems for erosion control.

“The project educates locals about sustainable forest management in order to produce quality lumber in an intact forest,” says Angelica. “Responsible planting improves the habitat for local flora and fauna.”

“This activity also provides income for workers with disabilities, who have to maintain the young trees,” she says.

Going forward, local charities are cooperating with local schools to organise visits to the project site to cut grass and monitor the growth of the newly planted trees.

A local cooperative is also setting up stations that educate the public about the area’s ecological value.

“The project made an enormous impact on the community, so thanks CX for their generosity!” says Angelica.

Marketing’s Rozana Lee used CCF funding to contribute to Habitat for Humanity’s general fund. In August 2013, she took part in the charity’s Mekong Big Build in the impoverished Tien Giang province in Vietnam.

The Mekong Big Build attracted 250 volunteers globally, and successfully put together 25 new houses for families in need.

She used the CX Charitable Fund to fund programme coordination and cover construction costs for materials, security, local engineers and technicians.

For the volunteers, the hard work was real – they had to transport materials, mix mortar, lay bricks, bend steel, level floors, pour cement and create roof beams.

“I worked on a house for a single mum who lives with her son. The family shared a home that has raw soil, untreated wooden columns and a leaky thatched roof. There was no sanitation facility – the two used a fishpond toilet,” Rozana recalls.

The work was tough, but Rozana found it immensely rewarding.“It think it’s great that the company is encouraging and supporting

our choice of charity,” she says.“Going to Vietnam to build houses for the poor has been such

a fruitful experience, and I encourage other colleagues to give the fund a go.”

CX Cebu’s Connie Cimafranca (below, second from left) applied to the CX Charitable Fund to build a new library for some 700 students at an elementary school in the Philippines.

The HK$20,000 that she received from CX served as the start-up costs of the library of Po-o Elementary School.

Construction started in October and is expected to wrap up in December.

“The new library will be equipped with books in the first phase, while computer units with Internet access and recreational facilities will be ready for use in 2014,” Connie says.

Po-o Elementary School, located on

Olango Island, has been the beneficiary of CX Cebu’s philanthropic efforts since 2011. The team has painted classrooms, refurbished roofs, donated school supplies and a used office copier to the school.

They also hosted a children’s party and gave the students art lessons.

Sarah Jane Sagarino, a Grade 5 student of Po-o, says she and her classmates will treasure the library.

“We can’t wait to see the new complex where we can learn more, surf the Internet and do exercises,” she says.

Other students from the island will also be allowed to use the library.

Since its 2011 launch, the Cathay Pacific Charitable Fund has benefited 36 causes in more than 11 countries worldwide.

The Charitable Fund encourages staff to take part in projects hosted by a charity, or initiate their own charitable project. Each project is entitled to a maximum funding of HK$50,000.

It was established with a percentage of the CX Group’s profits – close to HK$1 million per year – that went to the Swire Group Charitable Trust in the past. The Swire Board of Directors for Cathay Pacific decided to withhold that annual contribution to so that CX could set up its own philanthropy act.

“The charitable fund was set up to encourage staff across the CX Group to independently and actively participate in charitable projects, and I’m glad to observe that it has gained momentum over the years in different parts of the world,” says GM Corporate Communication Cecilia Leung, also the Convenor of the CCF Vetting Committee.

“With the company’s funding, staff are able to contribute to causes close to their heart, from starting up a food bank in Hong Kong to reforestation projects in the Philippines,” Cecilia says.

“We encourage staff to help those in need and give back to the society. We look forward to receiving more entries from CX and our subsidiaries.”

Here’s a look at how staff have made a difference around the world using CCF funding.

9

CX volunteers rolled up their sleeves to clean Tong Fuk Rocky Beach in the morn-ing of 2 November.

Close to a 100 CX staff, family and friends took part in the International Coastal Cleanup initiative to remove the trash and debris from the Lantau Island shoreline.

Director Corporate Affairs Chitty Cheung, Director Flight Operations Rich-ard Hall and Director Sales & Marketing

Rupert Hogg also joined this meaningful activity, along with frontline and back of-fice staff.

The participants cleared a total of 400 kilograms of rubbish off the beach. Among the day’s more unusual “finds” were the remains of an old canoe and a cage!

Chitty thanked all the helpers for their effort, adding that she’s glad to see more staff supporting the cleanup every year.

Sam Tse from ISD (bottom left) used the funding he obtained from the CCF to contribute to the general fund of Green Action Charity Foundation, a Hong Kong-based NGO.

Sam’s pet project is an afforestation initiative in Shek Lau County in China’s Shanxi province.

CX funding went towards the seedling, planting and maintenance

of 30,000 trees on 2,100 acres of arid land.The Inflight Service Manager visited the site in 2012 to

personally take part in the planting and learn about the difference planting trees can make.

“After afforestation, sites with steep slopes thought inappropriate for planting can now retain seedlings with a good survival rate. This is essential for water retention and soil erosion prevention,” says Sam.

“Older afforestation sites have developed into forests with good soil coverage. We even saw new ground springs appearing,” he says. “Newer sites are lush compared to areas without afforestation development.”

“Ultimately, we hope to arouse the attention of the central government and the general population to the importance of ecological protection and afforestation,” he says.

ISD’s Mallette De La Riva obtained funding from CX for the Hong Kong Society for Rehabilitation to organise six play days for 95 orphaned and disabled children in Xinjiang and Qinghai in August 2012.

“Children with disabilities, especially those living in orphanages, have little chance to go outside,” says the Inflight Service Manager.

“These play days, held in parks and botanical gardens, allow these kids to enjoy playing in sunshine and fresh air,” she says.

The play days also allows other park users to

better understand disabled children. “Some parents said they’ve never seen such

happy faces on their children,” Mallette recalls. “It was an unforgettable moment for the children and their families.”

She also personally raised HK$70,000 to get the project off the ground by running 250km across the Gobi Desert for seven days earlier in the year.

This year, she’s looking to complete the Oxfam Trailwalker and four 100km races, also in the name of charity.

The Spirit of Hong Kong campaign, which kicked off in July, has been a fantastic success, attracting more than 5,200 entries and more than 400,000 website views.

The 10 “champions” of the campaign, together with a hundred “top winners” selected by a panel consisting of senior public relations and media executives, will have their silhouettes painted onto the livery of a CX aircraft.

The last part of the campaign is the unveiling of the livery in December.

Director Corporate Affairs Chitty Cheung thanked the people of Hong Kong for their fantastic response and the high calibre of the entries.

“The participants share characteristics such as per-severance, being accommodating, solidarity, creativity, having a human touch and cultural integration, all of which are qualities shared and valued by most of the people in Hong Kong,” Chitty says.

The campaign’s champions have another commonal-ity – riveting back stories. Here are some of the winning images of the campaign.

Siu Sin-mei used five popular varieties of bread to create the two Chinese characters representing “concave” and “convex”. “The characters convey an important value of Hong Kong – accommodating diversity. We can rid society of prejudices and dilemmas through love, respect and acceptance of different backgrounds,” she says.

Solicitor Shani Chan’s winning photo shows him seemingly flying on a broom. “Taken by my younger sister some time ago, I think it’s an excellent example of how creative and adaptive Hong Kong people can be,” he says. “When Hong Kong was less prosperous, the masses invented imitation shark fin soup to sell on the streets.”

Amateur photographer Lam Kin-fai was impressed by a scene at a marathon in Hong Kong: a wheelchair-bound athlete struggling alone up a ramp for the disabled. “The adjacent lane was filled with general participants, creating a striking contrast,” he says. “I think the spirit of Hong Kong is striving for goals regardless of tough conditions.”

Cham Chui-shan’s winning work was inspired by the unique nature of traditional bamboo scaffolding. “Bamboo scaffolding is flexible, efficient and inexpensive. But to make it work, there must be a group of skilful workers prepared to work under extremely tough environments,” she says.

Cathay Pacific hosted the 7th CX-CA Summit in Beijing on 16 October. The meeting was co-chaired by CX Chief Executive John Slosar and President of Air China Cai Jianjiang.

In his opening speech, John said that by pooling together the two airlines’ resources, management capability and innovative strength, CX and CA will lead the China aviation market. This is being achieved through strategic cooperation and concrete planning.

John added that the relationships and knowledge that the two airlines possess will allow them to take steps that competitors are unable to.

At the summit, both parties agreed that encouraging progress had been made in various areas of cooperation. A few future collaborative projects were identified as part of the two airlines’ continuous effort to strengthen their long-term strategic partnership.

Qatar Airways officially became part of the oneworld alliance on 30 October, marking the occasion with one of the biggest ad campaigns in its 16-year history.

QR becomes the only one of the major Gulf carriers to join any of the global airline alliances and brings to oneworld more than 20 destinations and five countries – Ethiopia, Iran, Rwanda, Serbia and Tanzania – that are new to the alliance map.

Qatar’s addition will strengthen the alliance’s customer offering, providing routing alternatives across many hundreds of city pairs.

For example, passengers flying between Asia and Southern Europe or between Asia and Africa will now have convenient one-stop connections not previously available.

Qatar Airways’ Chief Executive Akbar Al Baker said: “Becoming a member of oneworld will strengthen our competitive offering and give our customers what they fully deserve – more choice across a truly global network served together with airline partners who include some of the best and biggest in the world.”

Qatar, which serves more than 130 destinations in 70 countries across the Middle East, Europe, Africa, North and South America, Asia and Australasia, is oneworld’s second member airline based in the Middle East.

In addition to launching its new ad campaign and TV commercial, QR is also running a special double miles offer for cardholders of all oneworld member airlines’ frequent flyer programmes – including those of Qatar Airways’ Privilege Club.

oneworld marked the addition of Qatar Airways by launching its latest consumer fare – the Visit Middle East pass – offering attractive flexible fares on flights to the region.

CX is taking part in a programme that showcases how improved technology, practices and air traffic management can reduce the im-pact of aviation on the environment.

Asia and Pacific Initiative for the Reduction of Emissions (ASPIRE) was founded in early 2008 by a group of Air Navigation Service Providers – the people who provide air traffic control services and regu-late traffic flow – hoping to minimise aviation’s environmental impact col-lectively.

Airlines around the Pacific Rim participate by operating flights that demonstrate how advanced technology, processes and aircraft capabilities can optimise fuel burn and reduce emissions.

ASPIRE programme procedures

cover all phases of flight from gate to gate, but a key element is more flexibility for pilots.

“On ASPIRE flights, pilots take advantage of weather and wind to determine the shortest route, as opposed to the defined routes that CX currently flies – a sailing boat approach, rather than a highway approach,” says Manager Line Op-erations Neil Phillips. “This saves time for everyone on board and helps conserve fuel.”

The “shortest route” approach is made possible by better technolo-gy in air traffic control and avionics. For example, a move from radar to satellite surveillance means better communication between the air-craft, its pilots and air traffic control-lers, reducing aircraft separation.

After almost four years of nego-tiating with ASPIRE members, CX is making a grand entrance to the ASPIRE programme by conduct-ing four demonstration flights on 20 November. These include CX111 to Sydney, CX135 to Melbourne, CX872 to San Francisco and CX094 to Anchorage.

“For CX flights to Australia, the best practice approach saves 4.5 minutes to 12 minutes per flight,” says Neil. “We operate 13 flights to Australia a day. This leads to sub-stantial savings of 750,000 to a mil-lion kilos of fuel per year.”

The similar principle applied on South African routes will shave one to two minutes off each journey, sav-ing 100 to 200 kilos of fuel per flight.

“The more demonstration flights

we do, the more we can apply this for our normal day-to-day flights,” says Neil.

CX will be the first airline to op-erate four nearly simultaneous AS-PIRE flights not demonstrated be-fore – multiple flights, a cargo flight, the first 747-8F flight and the first to Anchorage.

“This is an impressive effort, be-cause we have to negotiate with multiple parties spanning a huge part of the world and work with mul-tiple types of aircraft frames,” says Neil.

‘The aviation sector represents 2 - 3% of global CO2 emissions, so it is important for airlines, the industry and governments to work together to reduce aviation emissions on a global scale,” he adds.

PEY mini-siteA new mini-site is using an inno-vative approach to promote CX’s newest product offering employ-ing user-generated content.

The “My Premium Economy Experience” website is catego-rised by different traveller types, from individuals and seniors to families and businesspeople, presented in the form of articles, photos and videos.

The new mini-site serves as a one-stop platform for all PEY-re-lated information with a full breakdown of product information and interactive elements such as an online poll and the chance to win 5,000 Asia Miles by submit-ting feedback.

Find the mini-site through the CX website homepage.

Green pledge

Director Corporate Affairs Chitty Cheung joined celebrities Vivian Chow and Leo Ku and other HKIA stakeholders at the pledg-ing ceremony for “Go Green Monday @ HKIA” last month.

In line with HKIA’s commit-ment to be the world’s greenest airport, the six-month campaign promotes vegetarian, low carbon dining at HKIA.

CX is supporting this initiative by promoting vegetarian menu choices at the Cathay City and KA House food courts - see www.greenmonday.org.hk.

Senior discountSenior citizens are once again being offered a special discount on tickets in celebration of Senior Citizens’ Day, which this year falls on 17 November.

A 30% discount is being offered on Premium Economy Class tick-ets while a 25% discount applies in all other classes – including First Class for the first time – for Hong Kong and Macau residents aged 65 and over. Details at www.cathaypacific.com.hk.

Another oneworld awardReaders of Premier Traveler mag-azine have voted oneworld “Best Airline Alliance” in the magazine’s Best of 2013 readers’ survey.

This latest honour gives oneworld an unprecedented clean sweep of the premier “best alliance” titles, with seven “best alliance” trophies presented in the past year.

Former colleagues were saddened to hear of the passing of Robert Ernest Atkinson, who held senior positions in Cathay Pacific up to 1998.

Robert passed away on 18 October at the Royal Hampshire County Hospital in Winchester, England, following a battle with cancer. He was 63 years old.

His funeral took place in Winchester on 30 October attended by many former CX and Swire friends.

After joining Swire in 1979, Robert began working for CX in Hong Kong in 1981. He was in London from 1985 to 1988 and then moved to the Industries Division of Swire Pacific.

In 1989 he returned to the CX fold and was in succession General Manager Cargo Distribution Systems, GM Middle East & India and GM Pacific & South Africa Routes before moving back to Swire in August 1998.

CX is adding popular holiday destinations Koh Samui and Krabi to its network through a codeshare agreement with Bangkok Airways.

The CX code will be placed on Bangkok Airway’s daily flights between Hong Kong and Koh Samui and Bangkok and Krabi/Chiang Mai.

In exchange, Bangkok Airways’ “PG” code will be placed on CX services between Hong Kong and Bangkok.

“CX and KA have demonstrated significant commitment to the Thailand market with 31

additional weekly frequencies to Bangkok, Phuket and Chiang Mai from the summer of 2012 to the winter of 2013,” says Country Manager Thailand Leslie Lu.

“Koh Samui is a popular leisure destination for travellers from Hong Kong, Mainland China and other parts of the world served by CX, so we’re excited that our passengers can now fly directly from Hong Kong to Koh Samui on our code-share flights,” says Vickie Yue, Head of Alliance & Airline Partnerships.

“It’s also fantastic to have the code-share connecting Bangkok and Krabi for us – the latter gaining popularity as a sun and sea destination,” she adds.

“My sincere thanks go to the Alliance team, the CX Thailand Team and other supporting teams for the teamwork and dedication to overcome various challenges along the way,” Leslie says.

The first codeshare flight started on 4 November. The CX Group now connects to five destinations in Thailand with flights to Bangkok, Phuket, Chiang Mai, Koh Samui and Krabi.

It’s a fishy business in the Indi-an OceanThe main focus of the launch of CX services to the Maldives is carrying passengers to and from a sun-kissed holiday in one of the world’s most exotic destinations.

A smaller but still significant slice of the business on the new route will be in the cargo holds of the A330s flying out of Malé – and all of it will be seafood!

“There will nothing other than chilled fish or live fish, kept fresh by a special product ex-Malé – fish bins equipped with compressed oxygen,” says Kapila Santhapriya, Cargo Manager Sri Lanka who also has responsibility for the Maldives.

Kapila explains that seafood is the only export commodity out of the Maldives, “and it’s essential that we provide immediate connections beyond our hub to North America, Australia, Japan and Taiwan in order to secure regular volumes on our four-times-weekly flights.”       

October to March is the peak season for seafood out of the Maldives though Kapila says that volumes will be there year-round.

Competition is fierce, with leading Middle Eastern and Far East carriers vying for a slice of the seafood market.

“Our big advantage is the CX network and reduced transit times for special products such as edible fish to Japan, Taiwan and Australia,” Kapila explains.

“Also, the early arrival into Hong Kong means we can connect the same morning to all Far Eastern destinations in addition to same-day arrivals at other ports around the world.”

Demrik International is the agent appointed to handle cargo sales and operations in MLE, with CX CMB’s Warnaka Wijerathna based in the Maldives to oversee everything.

Kapila is also focused on the Colombo operation, where volumes have increased since the first freighter was launched in December last year.

“We are now averaging 30 tonnes per freighter in addition to 8-10 tonnes on the passenger flight on freighter days, and 15 to 20 tonnes on other days. Here also we have the advantage of an early arrival into Hong Kong that gives us the edge over other carriers, especially for sashimi grade tuna to Japan.”

A second weekly freighter was recently added to CMB, again shared with Mumbai and Chennai, which has grown inbound and outbound volumes by an average of 30 tonnes each way.

Around 60% of the freight, much of it garments for high-end fashion lines, is bound for the US market.

Kapila is bullish about the prospects for Sri Lanka

Promoting Premium Economy in ItalyThe team in Italy spread the word about CX’s Premium Economy cabin at one of the biggest fairs in Italy recently.

Premium Economy took off from Rome on 6 November.

The TTG Rimini Incontri Trade Fair, held in Rimini from 17 to 19 October, attracted 51 million visitors from the travel industry this year.

Pictured seated are Sakes Executives Margherita Rosa and Aristide Maina at the CX booth.

Earlier this year, the team also promoted CX’s Premium Economy service out of Milan at the BIT Milano Tourism Fair.

The third Toronto “I Can Fly” programme kicked off in late October with an educational session hosted by Toronto Sales Manager Ross Cronin.

The 15 lucky participants (right) were chosen from more than 200 applications. The Toronto “I Can Fly” runs weekly. Over an eight-week period students will get an inside look at different jobs in the industry, ranging from airport services to catering and cabin crew.

The Greater Toronto Airport Association will also host a behind-the-scenes airport tour.

Earlier this year, the fifth “I Can Fly” wrapped up in Vancouver. More than 100 students have benefited from the programme in Canada so far.

In other news, October was an exciting month for Canada cabin crew bases as they teamed up to raise funds for the Leukaemia and Lymphoma Society. Each base raised over CA$10,000 to donate a combined total of over CA$20,000 to this meaningful cause.

The Nagoya team recently celebrated a landmark moment when they moved to a new office building after 40 years on the same site.

The move is more than just a relocation – it tells the story of how Cathay Pacific has grown over five decades.

CX launched twice-weekly services to Nagoya on a Convair 880 in 1966. A few years after the service launched, the local team moved into Meiji Yasuda Seimei Nagoya Building, where they would stay for the next 47 years.

Back in the 1960s, most offices were not equipped with computers or CUPID. In Nagoya, when agents phoned in to make reservations, staff used passenger

Community focus

More than 80 staff participated in the charity walk “Light the Night” in Toronto and Vancouver, joining thousands of other supporters with lanterns to bring light to the dark world of cancer. Prior to the walk, charity dinners were held at both bases with a 70s’ theme in Toronto and a Halloween theme in Vancouver.

The true CX cabin crew Spirit shone through at the dinners and walks, and the fundraising efforts rendered truly amazing results!” says Deep Westacott, Cabin Crew Base Manager, Canada

Nagoya takes a trip down memory lanerecord cards to jot down details before sending the name list to the airport using Teletype (punching tape) to secure space and create a booking.

Before CUPID was installed in Nagoya in the late 1970s and early 1980s, making reservations was a laborious process – after customers approached the ticketing counter, Reservations staff had to return to the back office to call the Osaka Reservations office. Staff at Osaka then lodged reservations in their CUPID system.

This complicated process led to long queues at the Nagoya counter, and passengers occasionally became impatient and angry.

In 2011, as the old building’s age was starting to show, the CX Japan and the Nagoya team decided to move into Sakae 3-chome Building, which is earthquake-resistant.

To celebrate the success of the office relocation and bond with travel agents, an office opening party was held on 6 September. Those present enjoyed an evening of CX Business Class wines while soaking in beautiful night views of the city.

“I’d like to thank the former Marketing & Sales Manager Japan, James Evans, and our Regional IT coordinator, Philip Chung, for their support in the relocation process. Ganbarimasu!” says Agency Sales Manager Miwako Kasahara.

Assistant to General Manager Southeast Asia O’Neal Qin became passionate about diving following a Christmas trip to Mombasa in 2008.

“I got the chance to try scuba-diving and fell for the world underneath the sea right after my first dive,” he recalls.

Since then, O’Neal has visited various diving sites across the globe to experience the beauty beneath the seas.

“I have travelled to Kenya, Tanzania, Egypt, the Seychelles, Turkey, Mexico, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and China for scuba-diving,” he says.

“It’s a great experience to visit these places and meet people from completely different backgrounds … each time I get out of the water after a dive I feel I have gained a new perspective of the world we are living in.”

Qualified as a dive master in Bali, O’Neal not only teaches how to dive but also highlights the importance of conserving the natural world.

“To me, diving is all about forging a friendship between humans and the vast ocean. Nobody can survive without the oceans, and that’s why we have to take good care of them,” he says.

O’Neal always reminds himself and his students about the potential risks involved.

“Like many other sports, scuba-diving involves risks and difficulties,” he says.

“Although you can learn to avoid risks through regular practice, the real trick is to know one’s limits and not to go beyond them,” he says.

Agus Wibowo, an Indonesian aircraft mechanic based in Dubai, recently came to the rescue of a compatriot who became ill inflight.

The female passenger was travelling from Jeddah to Surabaya via Dubai when she developed a complication involving her vital organs. The passenger and her husband were offloaded in Dubai and rushed to hospital.

“I was not rostered to be at work that day, but decided to visit the passenger anyway. She was in a bad condition – bed-ridden, strapped to an oxygen mask and stabilised with drips,” says Agus.

The engineer wasted no time in contacting the Indonesian Consulate in Dubai, making sure someone visited the couple. He also purchased a local SIM card to allow the sick passenger’s husband to make calls.

“In the three months that followed, I visited the couple in hospital around 10 times on my days off,” says Agus. He also liaised with the Airport team to send their luggage back to Surabaya, and arranged stretchers and Business Class upgrades in case they wanted to continue their trip to Surabaya.

The passenger finally woke up from a coma two months later and her health improved on a daily basis thereafter.

“This is a great gesture of Service Straight from the Heart. It’s encouraging to other Engineering staff to see they can also make a difference in taking care of our passengers,” says Country Manager UAE & Qatar Brian Yuen.

nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn

Amsterdam says The first Premium Economy aircraft to land in the Netherlands touched down at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol on 4 October.

To celebrate the occasion, the local team gave away a flyer with a small piece of cheese attached to all arriving and departing passengers.

The offer was made in conjunction with The Dutch, a Dutch cheese and wine shop in Hong Kong that opened recently. The small gift got great feedback from passengers.

Manila promotes wine and dine in Hong KongCX’s home city once again promoted fine cuisines and wines from around the world during the Hong Kong Wine and Dine Festival, which ran from 31 October to 3 November in Central.

The Hong Kong Tourism Board jointly organised a series of promotional activities in the heart of Manila to give this event a push overseas.

The revelry started with a glamorous Gatsby-themed evening event held at the Greenbelt Park in Makati, attended by Marco Polo Club members, business partners, travel agents and local media.

The party of 80 enjoyed a four-course dinner that featured wines and champagne from CX’s inflight wine list. Veteran CX wine consultant Roy Moorfield was there to introduce the food and wine pairings.

The local team launched a special ticket promotion in time for the festival, and gave away a free tourist SIM card for every ticket purchased.

“We are very glad HKTB has identified the Philippines as a key market to promote the festival this year,” said Martin Xu, Country Manager Philippines.

1. Can you tell us more about your responsibilities at CX? Cabin crew communications, consultation and engagement. I also take care of the popular promotion booths in the Crew Lounge.

2. How long have you been with CX? I joined CX in 2000 as cabin crew and transferred to the Cab-in Crew Relations and Commu-nications team in 2007.

3. Why did you decide to stay on the ground? I’ve always wanted to learn more about the airline industry while staying close with the crew community. I was also expecting my first child at the time, so I grabbed the chance when this job came up.

4. What’s in store for this year’s Operation Santa Clause? We’ll be doing a dance perfor-mance for charity in December in a public area.

5. How much do we target to raise this year? A record-breaking amount!

6. How do you spend your spare time? I have two boys at home and they use up all my spare time.

7. What’s the most com-mon feedback you’ve had from crew over the years? Roster flexibility, as this is very important for them.

8. Do you miss flying as crew? Why? I do miss flying from time to time, especially when I want to buy something from outports!

9. You took part in the Change for Good field trip recently – any takeaways?I learned to treasure what I have today as not everyone has it.

Jenny Chan, Assistant Manager Cabin Crew Relations

For Dragonair Flight Attendant Andy Yang, winning the 18th CX/ KA Singing Contest was a dream come true.

Andy beat 19 other contestants to win the champion’s trophy, followed by first runner-up Egy Pujawan and second runner-up Elodie Lee, both flight attendants from CX.

Flight Purser Philipp Cabusas was given the “Most Creative Per-formance” award while Flight Atten-dant Tammy Fung from KA won the “Best Potential” award.

They were cheered on by a full house of fans at the Cathay City Au-ditorium on 25 October.

“This is my first singing trophy – a surprise win too, because the other contestants were so strong,” Andy says. “I’ve always loved singing so this is a very heartening and a big confidence booster for me.”

Andy learnt the piano when he was very young and, influenced by his favourite Taiwanese singer Cheer Chen, took up the guitar in 2006. He’s also fond of songwriting.

Before joining KA last year, Andy worked as a model for television in Taipei for a few years, during which he took part in two formal singing contests.

“Unfortunately I couldn’t get through to the finals, because I was too nervous to perform in front of crowds,” Andy says.

To rid himself of stage fight, he took part in open mic events in Tai-pei cafes.

Andy attributes his success at the CX/KA Singing Contest to the song he chose – The Wan-derer’s Song (流浪記).

“The song is full of pathos, describing a person who lives far away from his home town,” Andy says. “As a for-

eign cabin crew based in Hong Kong, I could really empathise with this song,

which probably helped my rendition.”

First runner-up Egy is also new to the company,

joining from Bali two years ago.

“This is my dream job. I’ve always wanted

travel and see the world,” he says.

Egy, who had loved singing since he was a child, chose Beyonce chart-topper Listen for the competition.

“I like Beyonce since she has out-

standing technique, both as a singer and an all-round entertainer,” he says. “Doing this song was a fun challenge since

it has a broad vocal range – plus it’s written for a wom-an!”

The Filipino crew community leapt into action when a devastating earthquake struck Bohol on 15 October.

The quake on the island, some 75km from Cebu, led to widespread destruction, killing at least 93 people and displacing thousands of others.

Filipino crew joined the Philippine Cabin Crew Charities Inc (PCCCI) group to approach ISD to begin a fundraising campaign to help those affected.

A stall was set up in the Cabin Crew Lounge and more than HK$100,000 was raised in the two weeks up to 8 November.

“We wanted to do something that does not involve governmental organisations so it can be handed quickly to the people who need it,” says ISM Mae Nielson.

“We will tap into the networks of friends already doing aid work in Bohol so we can send them money to buy basic necessities such as food, candles, tents and medicines.”

A number of crew will visit Bohol in mid-November and use some of the donation money to buy supplies for the people of Calape in the highland region.

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The boys and girls of Inflight Services were a vision in pink for a charity hike on 20 October.

More than 100 staff and their families and friends descended on the Peak in a wave of pink to take part in the event.

The strong showing was for “Pink Walk for Breast Health”, an annual fundraiser staged by the Hong Kong Breast Cancer Foundation to raise money for awareness campaigns.

The group stunned spectators and passersby as they made their way along the Peak Circle Trail sporting wigs, hats, rib-bons and funky spectacles – all in shocking pink.

“I’m very happy to see a lot of crew members and their fami-lies step up for charity. All of us enjoyed the leisurely stroll while promoting a good cause,” says General Manager Cabin Crew Liza Ng. “It was like a reunion party as a number of former CX crew members also joined us that day!”

Among the participants was a former CX cabin crew who survived breast cancer.

“The brave girl joining us today shows how a supportive community is important for a patient’s recovery,” adds Liza.

CX runners once again demonstrated their outstanding stamina at the annual Inter-Hong Long Distance Run Competition.

Three ladies, Inflight Service Manager Mallette De La Riva, Flight Purser Jinko Takeshige and Flight Purser Tracy Ho, came third in the team category.

“The race is one of the signature events of the Inter-Hong Games Association,” says Mallette. “Our runners have been actively participating in the inter-hong running events for the past two decades!”

This year, a total of 18 CX staff joined 180 other enthusiastic runners to compete for titles.

The race took place in Tai Mei Tuk, where the ladies ran in a 6km race while the men tackled a 10km course.

“The inter-hong competitions bring together employees from different companies, including HSBC, KMB, Jardines and Standard Chartered Bank – a good chance for us to make new friends who share the same passion for running,” Mallette says.

Mallette, picture right receiving her trophy, adds that she is happy to see more staff joining the CX Running Club.

The club has been organising training sessions and encouraging its members to take part in different races in Hong Kong and overseas.

For the avid mountain biker, Hong Kong, with all its country parks and mountainous terrain, has its advantages. The trails on Tai Mo Shan and along the Dragon’s Back near Shek O catch the eyes of mountain bikers in particular.

However, my friends and I decided to take it to the next level by travelling east to Japan’s Nagano

prefecture, where Fujimi Panorama MTB Park is located.

The poetically-named Fu-jimi means “A view of Mount Fuji” in

Japanese. The park is a ski re-sort when it’s covered with snow in winter, but in the summer, it’s a magnet for

mountain bikers. The part is just a 2.5 hour

road trip away from Na-goya, or three hours from Tokyo. We rented a van at Nissan Rent A Car (www.nissan-rentacar.com/English)

to carry all our bikes and bags to Fujimi – a fantastic deal. The

car rental centre is conveniently located right in the middle of Na-goya International Airport, near

Access Plaza.

SHOW US YOUR TIPS!CX World welcomes staff travel tips from across the network – email us at CCD#SCT

Every month, CX World invites all CX staff to tell unusual, interesting or just downright quirky tales of travel moments around the world. The stories may also be featured on official CX social media channels, such as Facebook. Sponsored by Inflight Sales, the lucky sender of the main story receives HK$500 worth of inflight sales products of their choice from the ever-changing collection of over 260 items on offer (excluding liquor and cigarettes).

Go shopping at www.cathaypacific.com/dutyfree

Our party rented a holiday house near the woods of Fujimi (via www.fujimipanorama.com).

The wooden lodge was great, with simple cooking utensils good enough for simple meals. There’s also an

onsen nearby, as well as a massive supermarket where we could buy most of our daily necessities. Do remember to bring extra cash to Fujimi, however, since most places do not accept credit cards.

The Fujimi Panorama MTB Park is separated into three trails with different levels of difficulty. A cable car takes visitors up to the peak, where there’s a shop that rents all

sorts of bikes, from free-ride to pro downhill models. From then on, all you have to do is pedal downhill.

The excitement got our blood pumping and we found our-selves longing to do it again and again. At the end of the day,

caked with dirt and mud, we hosed down our gear and bikes for free at a nearby shower area.

Fujimi is a small, quiet town, but punches above its weight in terms of excitement and relaxation. It’s a great place to test your biking skills with locals who are eager to please.

Paris Customer Sales Officer Stephanie Pardo took this photo at 8am on the station platform at Poissy some 25km northwest of Paris.

As Stephanie was waiting for an RER train to take her to work at the CX Town Office in Neuilly-sur-Seine, she was struck by a striking image in the skies.

“Vaporous cloud lines created by the morning air traffic flying west from Charles de Gaulle airport were juxtaposed with the stark outline of electric power catenaries above the railway tracks,” Stephanie says.

“This photo conveys how we view modern air transport from the ground.”

She adds that French impressionist painters captured the same station with a steam train approaching 130 years ago. “I marvel at how we can change our landscape within such a short time frame,” Stephanie smiles.

Fastest way to see AngkorJoining the

Angkor Wat International

Half Marathon is probably one of the best ways to see the UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Held on 4 December this year, the run takes competitors through jungle and past temples to raise money for victims of landmines.

Online registration closes 15 November. The race starts and ends in front of the Central Sanctuary of Angkor Wat

Sign up at www.goadventureasia.com

Chriskindlesmarkt in Bavaria Come December, Christmas markets spring up throughout Germany. The most famous of them all is

the Nuremberg market in Bavaria, which fills the city centre with some 200 stalls, drawing throngs of tourists.

The first Christmas market was held in Hauptmarkt in the 16th century. These days, stalls peddle everything from tree ornaments to dried food figurines. For the little ones, there’s the adjacent Children’s Christmas Market.

Chriskindlesmarkt is held from the Friday before Advent Sunday to 24 December.

More at www.christkindlesmarkt.de.

Cold Christmas Wrap up and experience Christmas the Russian way by paying Moscow a visit between 26 December and 8 January.

Moscow’s famous Winter Festival is an all-in-one celebration of the Russian Christmas, the Russian New Year and Svyatki (or Russian Christmastide).

Tourists at Izmailovo Park and Revolution Square take troika rides, ogle at ice sculptures, listen to folk bands eat traditional wintry foods. The Christmas Village at Revolution Square is a great place to pick up traditional shawls and felt boots.