Anyone who is somebody goes by one name. Madonna, Cher, Beyonce, Napoleon, etc. Lots of Airlines only have one word names. United, Delta, Lufthansa, Emirates and so on.
But seriously you have to ask yourself why would they do that now and abandon a decades old name with a legacy.
“Cathay” at one point used to be the name that China was identified by. So this can only be virtue signalling to the Northern regime.
“Look at us we are pivoting closer to the Mainland. Look at our name Cathay it means China, we have always been a part of China. See we are a Chinese airline.”
The trouble with virtue signalling is that it is BS because it is not genuine and people see it for what it really is.
The average global citizen has no idea on the meaning of Cathay so what possible marketing value is there in dropping the Pacific if not for the above.