Betpump5,
I agree 100%. The brand has been severely compromised. How long will CX fetch premium fares while other carriers offer the same product or better for less money? I'm not just referring to the ME3, but all the other airlines serving Hong Kong, including LCCs. CX is well and truly middle of the pack now. With declining reliability and OTP, that position is dropping like a rock. What are the Management doing about it? Repainting airplanes! Nero fiddles...
For most foreign carriers, Hong Kong is one of their most profitable routes. How long will they resist adding services here whilst CX flushes its only hub and first mover advantages down the toilet. Between the high fare O&D traffic and all the connecting passengers and cargo, the Hong Kong aviation market is truly a goldmine. Yet, CX has found a way to screw it up despite being the only major airline hubbing from Hong Kong. It's just sad to watch. I'm genuinely worried.
It's liking handing a successful business to one's offspring and watching as they destroy it with their ignorance, laziness, and immaturity. It's pure pain for those who built it with their own hard labour. As CX pilots for XX numbers of years, we all have had a part in growing this Company, but who amongst us feels any pride or ownership as stakeholders? Certainly not me. Is that a failure on my part or did "management" lose the plot somewhere along the way?
This is not irreversible, but it could become so if real leadership does not take over. Swires, I beg of you... Hire some real airline leaders who know what the hell they are doing. These leaders need to understand how all the different moving parts of the airline relate to and synergize with the others. The different departments cannot be viewed in isolation, ignoring the inter-connectedness. CX is managed in vertically non-integrated silos. If that doesn't change, the airline will become irreversiblely doomed within this decade.