Question - When were the jets ever “shiny”?
Even the new airplanes quickly look old at CX due to the filthy air in HK, lack of exterior washes, and shoddy maintenance which rapidly has them looking haggard with wrong color parts and/or missing pieces due to deferral.
Can’t wait for summer, bet CX has the whole APU fleet all ginned up with spares so we don’t have to sit in sweltering heat waiting for Chinese ATC to figure out that putting the entire nation’s flights on the same five airways makes things unnecessarily congested. The PLAAF needs the rest, you see... Otherwise, the Yanks might kick their arses. Oh wait, that’s a certainty anyways and the US doesn’t even have to shutter 90% of the nation’s airspace to train.