GROWTHING AIRLINE - u descide?
He said Cathay was adjusting its fleet strategy by retiring 21 Boeing 747s and 11 Airbus 340 aircraft in the next six to seven years, or planes that were no longer efficient.
The fleet will be rejuvenated with 30 wide-body Airbus 350-900s costing US$7.82 billion and scheduled for delivery from 2016 to 2019.
The order, Cathay's single largest aircraft acquisition, is a way of reducing operating costs. The A350 - to be deployed for long-haul routes such as North America and Europe - will use 25 per cent less fuel than a jumbo jet, which has the same number of seats at 314 and a similar flight range.
Airlines frustrated over flight delays owing to heavy air traffic
Denise Tsang in Toulouse
Oct 25, 2010
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Flight delays as a result of poor air traffic control on the mainland are "a real concern" for airlines and passengers, Cathay Pacific Airways (SEHK: 0293) chief operating officer John Slosar said.
The air traffic control problem worsened this year as the country's thriving travel market left too many flights chasing after a limited number of air routes.
Air traffic congestion blemished the punctuality record of Cathay's subsidiary, Hong Kong Dragon Airlines or Dragonair, a mainland-focused carrier that had 25 per cent of flights - one in every four - delayed so far this year, 5 percentage points higher than last year.
Cathay, which operates more international flights, fared better and had about 15 per cent of flights taking off beyond 15 minutes of a scheduled departure time.
"The problem is getting worse, and there is not much we can do about it," Slosar said in an interview on board a new wide-body A330-300 aircraft from Airbus' production base in Toulouse, France. "Passengers get frustrated, and we get frustrated, too."
The summer peak travel season this year saw the worst flight delays, he said.
Some frequent travellers said flights between Hong Kong and Shanghai and Beijing were well behind schedule even after an additional air route was opened last year. Resolving the air traffic bottleneck situation was an arduous task, with the sky controlled by military forces, they added.
Slosar does not think air traffic congestion will hurt the long-term growth of the mainland's travel market, where Cathay plans to resurrect two routes it trimmed during bad economic times.
He said the new destinations will largely be second-tier cities such as Fuzhou, Nanjing, Qingdao and Hangzhou in the summer next year.
More daily flights will be added on Hong Kong-Perth and Hong Kong-Sydney routes, he said.
He said Cathay was adjusting its fleet strategy by retiring 21 Boeing 747s and 11 Airbus 340 aircraft in the next six to seven years, or planes that were no longer efficient.
The fleet will be rejuvenated with 30 wide-body Airbus 350-900s costing US$7.82 billion and scheduled for delivery from 2016 to 2019.
The order, Cathay's single largest aircraft acquisition, is a way of reducing operating costs. The A350 - to be deployed for long-haul routes such as North America and Europe - will use 25 per cent less fuel than a jumbo jet, which has the same number of seats at 314 and a similar flight range.
Slosar said that Cathay had not yet considered buying the A380 super jumbo, which carries more than 500 passengers but has less space to carry cargo.
Cargo services were bread and butter to the group, which generated about 30 per cent of Cathay's revenue, he said.
Slosar added that the carrier planned to revamp business class seats and roll out premium economy class in the next few months to broaden revenue.
According to statistics from the International Civil Aviation Organisation, the mainland drove Asia-Pacific's 7.6 per cent growth in domestic air traffic in what it deemed a difficult year last year.