I would say Cathay is a better choice. Why, well, Dubai is EK's only base. Cathay has many in the US, Europe, and Aust as well as Hong Kong. Cathay and the Asia market will grow as well particularly mainland China as is evidenced in the recent Travel and Leisure magazine.
Cathay just won approval for three mainland China cities as well as the coveted New York-London market which will make it a round the world airline. I don't think anyone else does this anymore?
SARS was/is a bad thing and hopefully won't appear again however, as an American the Middle East is just not realistic for me. I am single, no kids, never even married and I would not go to the ME. I spent time in that part of the world before doing Hadj and Saudi wet lease and frankly don't want to go back. EK flies to a lot of Middle Eastern places, CX does too, but not as many "Hot Spots" as I would call them. I believe the quality of life in the ME would never be as good as HK or Aust or Europe. The ME is and always will be volatile especially for westerners.
As far as pay and "conditions of service" CX hands down. I was stunned when I read the COS. I will probably get blasted for that but it is far better than any, and I mean ANY US carrier and a lot of others as well. Ask yourself what you want to have when it is time to retire. Having a command is great but I think the bigger picture is retirement.
Rapid expansion may not be a good thing, ordering brand spanking new aircraft may not be either. CX is being VERY conservative as is evidenced with the used B747-400's. I think that is smart as the entire world airline industry is on the brink right now. All it will take is a major missle or bombing and game over. The DHL thing got blown by cause it was a freighter, frankly that is scary. If that happens, where would you rather be? In the ME or somewhere else?
Good luck to you.
