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Happy 70th birthday Cathay PacificGrowing together over seven decades

7 amazing decadesOur longest-serving people put

history in perspective

A magazine for the people and friends of Cathay Pacific AirwaysSeptember 2016, Issue 245

A story to tellThe man on a mission to

boost Cathay’s image

HK perspectiveColleagues share their

impressions of Hong Kong

Gatwick is go!Meet the team who got our

latest destination off the ground

Page 2-3

One of the impressive things about Cathay is the connection that outport staff feel to the airline and Hong Kong. Japan has produced some of most loyal and long-serving people over the years, of which Tateyama is a great example. He joined Cathay in 1971 after working on a US military base in Tokyo.

His 45 years in the airline have been a constant learning experience, and Tateyama-san has just completed his A300-600F training in Penang.

“The advanced avionics and the technology were a sharp contrast to the plane I first worked on for Cathay, the Convair 880,” he smiles.

“The Convair cockpit was full of analog dials and gauges, and it also had a seat for a Flight Engineer. Most things on the Convair were powered by mechanical systems, and to service these, we engineers used to bring big toolboxes to the belly and really get down and dirty back in the day,” Tateyama-san explains.

One of the bigger challenges he recalls was the the oil crisis of the late 1970s when prices doubled. “It put serious financial pressure on us and as a result we went through one of the biggest cost-saving exercises I’ve ever experienced,” he says.

The crisis also prompted Cathay to invest in more fuel-efficient aircraft.“Shortly after I joined, Cathay began to introduce the Lockheed L1011 TriStar, followed later by our first Boeing 747.

But our latest and greatest A350s are even more efficient now, and the new aircraft are so much more reliable. When you’re an engineer, reliability is king.”

Throughout his 45 years of service, Tateyama-san has watched aircraft engineering evolve exponentially, with notable changes including a much larger fleet and more aircraft types, as well as providing line maintenance services for other airlines.

Now looking forward to retirement, he says his bond with the airline and its people will remain. “I’ll always feel close to Cathay and look forward to seeing it continue to thrive in the future.”

When two entrepreneurs registered a new airline in the name of Cathay Pacific Airways on 24 September 1946, they could not have known what their modest venture would eventually become.

American Roy Farrell and Australian Sydney de Kantzow were adventurers who flew “the hump” – the dangerous route from Calcutta over Burma to China – during the Second World War. The pair saw potential in Hong Kong aviation when the war was over, buying two used DC3 aircraft and each putting up HK$1 to register their new carrier. The rest, as they say, is history.

And what a history it has been over the past 70 years. From those first two DC3s, lovingly named Betsy and Niki, and early charter services to Singapore, Manila and Bangkok, we have grown to become one of the world’s most highly regarded airline groups – a winner of multiple awards and airline of the year honours, with a fleet of 200 aircraft, a global workforce of some 27,000 people, and passenger and cargo networks spanning the world. If only Roy and Syd could see us now!

It has been a remarkable seven decades, during which we’ve grown together with Hong Kong and weathered the numerous storms that have come our way. A number of factors have contributed to our success over the years, from the foresight of our founders in setting up shop in Hong Kong, geographically located in the heart of Asia, to the ongoing support we have received from the people of our home city, and our government’s determination to develop Hong Kong as a global aviation centre.

But if you ask me to pinpoint one single factor that has made Cathay Pacific what it is today, then I would have no hesitation in saying “our people”.

From the very beginning we have been blessed with a remarkable team who have shown unquestionable passion, commitment and loyalty to the airline. The pilots and engineers who have built our reputation for safe, reliable operations; our airports, reservations, sales and cargo teams who oil the wheels of our business; our cabin crew teams who have elevated Service Straight from the Heart beyond a mere slogan to something that stands us out from the crowd; and all those unsung heroes behind the scenes – in Hong Kong and outports – who work, day in and day out to keep this incredibly complex operation moving.

Our people have helped us through some significant challenges in the past – who can forget the SARS outbreak in 2003, when we all made a huge sacrifice as our airline went through its most challenging time – and it is this great spirit and camaraderie that will ensure our success in the future.

In celebrating the 70th birthday of Cathay Pacific, we should look back fondly to the pioneers who shaped our airline, and nurture will lead us to even greater heights over the next seven decades. Thank you everyone for being part of this great airline; we couldn’t have grown to where we are today without you, the people who are the heart and soul of our airline.

Here’s to another 70 years of Cathay Pacific!

A celebration of the past – and the futureIvan Chu

The rich history of Cathay Pacific has been built on the contribution and commitment of its people. As the airline celebrates 70 amazing years, we talk to someof our longest-servers, whose loyalty to Cathay has taken the airline through good times and bad and helped our passengers to continue to live a Life Well Travelled.

Through the lens of our people

Maria has always felt a very close connection to Cathay and its people over her 45-year journey with the airline.

Having joined as an air hostess on the Convair, Maria ended her career in the air as a Chief Purser in 1996. She moved to Auckland that same year and started again on the ground, working as a Customer Services Officer at Auckland airport before rising to her current position.

“There is something very special about Cathay – a camaraderie and can-do spirit that is seen everywhere in the airline,” she says.

Maria has spent more than four decades on the frontline, where Cathay can win if “everyone adheres to our steadfast dedication to offering service that really comes from the heart”.

“My belief is that you should treat others like how you’d like to be treated – it’s simple,” Maria smiles. Maria started on the Convair, “a different era of flying”, when they carved lamb racks and beef joints in front of First Class

passengers and didn’t have food carts in Economy, with coffee and tea poured from heavy silver pots, drinks in glassware and food on china plates.

“It was really physically demanding back then! Every flight involved marathons of walking as serving each of the 104 passengers required a trip back to the galley,” Maria says.

The passengers were different back then, and taking to the air used to be treated as more of an occasion. “It was full of pomp and ceremony, and people dressed up as if it was an occasion, but it certainly didn’t mean that passengers were more docile! From my perspective customers are equally demanding then and now, but in different ways!”

Maria has flown on every Cathay aircraft type since the Convair – “except the Airbus A350,” smiles Maria. “The A350 launches to Auckland at the end of October, so I look forward to going onboard and trying out the new facilities!”

Maria adds: “I’ve worked for Cathay Pacific for 45 years. I’ve travelled with Cathay Pacific for 45 years. And I hope that my friends and families will continue to travel with Cathay Pacific for years to come.”

Maria ChowJoined Cathay in 1971Currently Auckland Manager on Duty

45years

Hiroyuki TateyamaJoined in 1971 Currently Licensed Aircraft Engineer, Nagoya

CX WORLD

The rich history of Cathay Pacific has been built on the contribution and commitment of its people. As the airline celebrates 70 amazing years, we talk to someof our longest-servers, whose loyalty to Cathay has taken the airline through good times and bad and helped our passengers to continue to live a Life Well Travelled.

Through the lens of our people

If anyone embodies the spirit of loyalty and dedication that has been at the heart of the Cathay family since 1946, it is Regional Catering Manager, North America Peter Ho. That he has been in his current position since 1987 is impressive; the fact that he joined 50 years ago, when Cathay had just four aircraft and flew to 17 ports, is remarkable.

Peter began as a Traffic Officer in Hong Kong and remembers that, though it was a “small, humble airline”, it had the same strong family feeling and endless can-do spirit that Cathay has today.

The airline had only around 1,000 employees in the Sixties, “and most of them were crew who had to report to the office. Everyone knew each other and we had a real family feel – friends and colleagues working towards the same goal together,” says Peter.

Peter took the family element one step further when he met his wife of 45 years who was working as a Check-in Receptionist – now known as a Customer Services Officer.

“I remember seeing her in a traffic training course where I taught as a part-time trainer. It was around Christmas time, and the Station Manager, Dennis Field, whom I respected as a father figure, told me to get a partner for our staff party, so I approached my wife and all the rest is history!

“But I believe my story isn’t unique – Cathay has witnessed many happy unions of colleagues. Many people have met their kindred spirits while working for the company!”

In his current position, Peter had the privilege of being involved in the evolution of catering in the areas of planning, quality and safety. “I helped introduce authentic Hong Kong-style congee to our menus in the early 90s. That was a proud moment for me, bringing a much loved local authentic dish to our global passengers,” he says.

Peter has watched Cathay grow up and flourish, saying: “It’s amazing what we’ve achieved, winning several World’s Best Airline awards. Reminiscing about the past reignites my pride for having been part of it all through all the ups and downs.”

Rick FryJoined in 1979 Simulator Instructor

Rick has been proud to be part of the Cathay pilot group that has ensured safe and reliable operations over the past seven decades.

Now the second-longest serving among the airline’s cockpit crew, Rick looks back fondly to the days when he started as a First Officer on the Boeing 707 when routes extended no further than Australia or the Middle East.

Every pilot who joined before 1998 has happy memories of flying into Kai Tak. “For me, the approach into runway 13 was the most memorable – it was so unique that pilots commonly practiced this approach in their home-base simulators before operating into Hong Kong.”

Every plane had to do a 47-degree sharp turn in front of the famous checkerboard on Signal Hill before the final approach – “the so-called ‘Kai Tak heart attack’ that was certainly very impressive for jump seat passengers!” Rick laughs.

The years 1994/95 were among the proudest for Rick when he helped with the introduction of the Airbus fleet.

“There was a widespread feeling of reservation from the pilot community about switching to fly-by-wire on the Airbus, where computers limited the pilot’s ability to override in an emergency. It took a while to understand the philosophy was inherently safe and protected the aircraft from being over-stressed,” he explains.

It was a time of change in many ways, including the task sharing and responsibility between Captain and First Officer, but Rick says the introduction of the Airbus made a lot of sense for the airline.

“The Airbus was so much more economical in terms of fuel burn that when we started flying them on the Australia routes, they became more profitable than the previous Boeing 747,” Rick said.

He believes we live in “an ever-evolving world” in terms of new technology, and that our A350s represent the next phase of that new efficiency and Cathay’s ability to deliver on its Life Well Travelled promise.

Right from the start, Mary was impressed by the professionalism and teamwork that make Cathay Pacific tick.She joined as a Ground Hostess on 1 October 1976 and remembers her first weeks in the job clearly. “I was impressed by the professionalism and the uniform, and the grooming was immaculate… straight away I felt proud to be part of Cathay.”

Mary’s career led her through a variety of positions, but she says one constant throughout has been teamwork, “especially during disruptions – teamwork is what has helped us overcome challenges,” she says.

She remembers her experience working at Kai Tak in the 80s and 90s. “The airport wasn’t as big as HKIA, and often we didn’t have enough parking bays so planes would have to park remotely. That became more of a challenge if the plane was late landing and had passengers who had to make connections.”

Mary clearly remembers the precision and teamwork needed to make sure passengers made their connecting flights.

“There would be a team of five or six of us that would head out to the remotely parked plane. We’d be wearing our full uniform and makeup in the heat and humidity and would hold up signs to all the different connecting destinations. On a plane with 200 passengers we might have 50 on different connecting flights with less than 30 minutes to get them on board!

“Once you’d found all the passengers you had to make sure they boarded the right bus to be taken to their plane. It could very quickly turn to chaos, but the teamwork and composure we we’re able to bring made everything move seamlessly.”

Peter HoJoined in 1966 Regional Catering Manager North America

50years

40years

Mary PauJoined in 1976 Manager Customer Experience HKIA, Hong Kong

37 years

Small celebration at Cathay City recognises our heritage and celebrates our people

Happy birthday Cathay Pacific!

On 24 September 1946, Cathay Pacific started life with Betsy, a DC3 aircraft which carried freight and passengers in Asia.

“When we were thinking about how to recognise our people on our 70th anniversary, we became inspired by the 1960s when a major evolution took place that affected everybody at the then fledgling airline,” says Head of People Communications & Engagement Carly Nankin.

Cathay’s fleet made the leap from propellor planes into the jet age with the introduction of our first Convair 880 in 1962, which opened up a world of opportunity for our company and people.

In the 60s, Cathay embraced another change that cemented the airline’s signature identity – our first red cabin crew uniform was launched in 1962.

Over the years since then, we have bought new planes, embraced new aviation trends, and adopted new technology. And all these investments have helped to build the foundation for our global operations today.

“So we wanted to recognise our heritage whilst looking forward to the future with a real sense of optimism, and this future is embodied in the recent arrival of the A350,” says Carly.

Threading through the series of 70th anniversary activities in Hong Kong and

the outports is the photograph seen on this issue’s cover, where 45-year long-serving staff Maria Chow – who was an original crew on the Convair 880 – donned Cathay’s first red uniform and posed along with our current cabin crew, engineers and pilot.

There was also a small activity on The Street at Cathay City on 22-27 September, where our people could pose at a booth inspired by the 1955 Cathay Pacific ticketing counter at The Peninsula hotel. A timeline board showed Cathay’s key milestones over the past 70 years – a more comprehensive version of which is included in this CX World.

“We’ve come through many challenges over the last 70 years; but one thing has remained constant,” says Director People Tom Owen. “Cathay Pacific is a world renowned airline because of our people’s passion, experience, knowledge and dedication.

“From helping passengers to Arrive in Better Shape to enabling a Life Well Travelled, what unifies us is that are all working here to ensure our customers travel well. That must always be at the centre of everything we do.”

He adds: “Although current times are challenging, we firmly believe that our greatest years are still ahead of us. A big thank you all the teams involved in putting this small celebration together.”

Clockwise from top: Colleagues gathered on The Street to take photos with the mock-up of a vintage Cathay Pacific ticketing counter. Our people also wrote down their personal memories of Cathay to share with colleagues.

Watch Maria Chow – one of our longest serving colleagues – tell her Cathay Pacific storyhttp://tiny.cc/Cathay70

Swire HK Archive holds Cathay memories dating back to 1946

• The archive was set up to support the operations of Swire businesses• Cathay’s archive currently forms the largest collection, holding more than 20,000 photos and 500 films• Biggest archival contribution came from former Cathay pilot and author Chic Eather

Connecting with the past

One team that’s been kept on its toes during Cathay’s 70th anniversary year is the Swire HK Archive Service (HKAS), which has handled numerous requests from the airline on top of helping with celebrations to mark 150 years of Swire in China and the 200th anniversary of the Swire group in 2016.

HKAS was set up in 2014, moving to a purpose-built repository in November 2015, and was always intended to be a working business archive.

“Our priority is to support the operations of the Swire businesses, so the majority of our users are therefore internal,” says Matthew Edmondson, HKAS’s designated Archivist for the Aviation Division.

The repository itself is an impressive facility, fitted out to international archiving specifications. It

can accommodate 10,962 standard archival boxes, or 3,240 linear metres of shelf space – equivalent to the length of 43 Boeing 777-300ERs.

The repository is currently filled to a third of its capacity, with Cathay Pacific’s archive materials forming the largest collection.

“The collection ranges from Cathay’s historical minute books and legal documents, to departmental archives and management records from across the company, dating from 1946 to the present day,” Matthew says.

More than 20,000 photographs and 500 films and videos are now preserved in the archive, many of which have been digitised.

The biggest individual contribution came from veteran Cathay pilot, writer and historian Chic Eather, who donated boxes of old photographs, documents

and paraphernalia from his colourful past.

HKAS has lent support to a number of Cathay departments, from familiarisation tours and staff engagement activities to research for publication.

“We handle colleagues’ enquiries not just from departments in Hong Kong but also from outports seeking information, photographs, videos and other material from the archives,” says Matthew.

“We’ve also hosted a number of media tours, and there’s been a great interest in items from the Cathay archive – early pilots’ logbooks, historical inflight services materials, magazines, newsletters, photographs and advertisements – that have brought to life the airline’s unique history and story from 1946 to the present.”

Clockwise from top left: HKAS’s Bonnie Sze and Matthew Edmonson; the entrance to the archive features photos from Swire’s past; Cathay memorabilia on display in the climate-controlled storage room; some of the historic items from the extensive Cathay collection.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to London Gatwick The A350 touched down in London Gatwick on 2 September, relaunching the route after Cathay ceased operations into the port two decades ago• Cathay first launched its London route by flying into Gatwick Airport more than 30 years ago • The A350 is used on the new route; the first Cathay A350 to touch down was B-LRB• Addition of Gatwick provides more choice and flexibility to Cathay passengers flying into the UK

Paul Cruttenden

Marketing & Digital Sales Manager, UK

We were delighted that in the launch week, the phrase ‘London Gatwick’, had the highest number of mentions across all of Cathay’s social channels – a testament to how warmly this new route and aircraft has been received!

With our new A350 flights out of Gatwick, our passengers can now Trip the Flight Fantastic – and they are choosing to, in numbers, judging by the loads over the next two months!”

Roger Bassett Engineering Manager London One truly Work

Well Done incident occured before our second service from Gatwick. There was a shortage of Business and Premium Economy pillowcases.

A team member who lived locally managed to take home some inbound stock to wash, dry and press before refitting them to the same-day outbound service – going way above and beyond to prevent a delay. But rest assured, we’ve now overcome the issue by holding a complete ship set of linen!”

On-time performance

Fuel priceRolling 6 months

Traffic vs capacity (CX + KA)*

Passengers carried 2,975,161 -3.8%Passenger load factor 86.8% -1.8ptASKs (000) 12,457,876 -0.8%Freight carried 153,733 3.8%Cargo load factor 63.3% 2.7ptATKs (000) 2,567,963 -1.8%

* Figures for Aug16

Performance index

Publisher Tom OwenManaging Editor Mark Tindall

Editor Kawai WongProduced by the People Department

8/F North Tower, Cathay City, HK PNL#COM@cathaypacific.com

Apr16 Sep16

Sing Jet Kerosene

ICE Brent

60 50 40 30

Within 15 mins

On-the-dot

20Mar 16 Aug16

Positive feedback from customers!

Cathay first touched down in Gatwick with our then brand- new Boeing 747 more than 30 years ago. On 2 September, we made a triumphant return to the airport using our A350, with CX343 touching down at 6:30am UK time. The passengers disembarked to a warm welcome from the London team.

Rain Luo, Assistant to General Manager Europe, says: “We prepared some goodie bags containing travel guides and biscuits for our arriving and departing passengers.

“From what I could see, our customers seemed refreshed after the long flight, so perhaps the cleaner air and the 6,000ft cabin altitude were really working!”

Shabita Sumaraj, Airport Services Manager at Gatwick, says: “Each and every one of us at the terminal were keenly anticipating the arrival of our first A350 – we were tracking the flight using an app up until the moment we saw CX343 looming on the horizon. That was when our excitement level peaked. It’s a very graceful-looking bird and Gatwick is lucky to have it.”

Immediately after touch down, the team sprang into action to get B-LRB ready to head into the skies again for Gatwick’s inaugural departure to Hong Kong on CX344, scheduled for 12:40.

Betsy Kong, Project Lead Airports, says: “We worked hard to ensure that passengers on our inaugural flight had an unforgettable experience. From the fun photo booth with props to the celebratory cake with an A350 on it… everything was curated to convey the essence of a Life Well Travelled!”

Neil GlennGeneral Manager Europe The addition of

Gatwick to the network – the only non-stop service connecting Gatwick and Hong Kong – provides more choice and flexibility to our passengers, connecting them to Hong Kong, China and beyond.

A big thank you for the effort and commitment of the teams in the UK and Hong Kong who worked closely together to make the launch a success. A great example of team-work and Work Well Done.”

Düsseldorf also gets its first A350 The Germany team prepared some luggage tags and chocolates for the CX376 passengers on 1 September. And guess what – our A350 appeared on the front cover of the German newspaper Rheinische Post! Pictured here are the Düsseldorf mavericks, from left: Andrea Kuchenbuch (ASM), Katrin Scholder (CSO) and Massimo Meurer (MOD).

The Gatwick launch generated some nice tweets

#Best reception at an airport

#Cake&Fizz

Clockwise from top: B-LRB approaching London Gatwick for the first time; operating crew of the inaugural flight out of Gatwick; Neil Glenn and the first crew into Gatwick. #LGWtoHKG

CX WORLD

1959 Absorbs Hong Kong Airways, gaining northbound traffic rights to Japan and southbound rights to Sydney

1947 Cathay Pacific purchased a further five DC3s and two Catalina flying boats to launch services to Macau

1967 Cathay forms Air Caterers Limited in partnership with Hong Kong & Shanghai Hotels Limited. The last Electra is sold to leave an all-jet fleet of five Convair 880s

24 Sep 1946 Cathay Pacific is registered in Hong Kong by two enterpreneurs – American Roy Farrell (top) and Australian Sydney de Kantozow (bottom)

1948 Swire takes a majority shareholding in Cathay Pacific

1969 New uniform launches

Apr 1962 The airline enters the jet age with the arrival of the first Convair 880. Seen here is our first red uniform

1 Apr 1959 Our first Lockheed Electra arrives in Hong Kong. VR-HFO is the first aircraft to feature a two-class configuration: 12 First Class seats and 66 Economy seats

1955Cathay opens our own-branded ticketing counter at The Peninsula hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui

Get involvedFor more about donating, visit cxflypink.com. Pilots can wear pink epaulettes, cabin

crew and other employees can wear the FlyPink pin throughout the campaign.

Arnold (above, and with his family, below left) is setting high targets in terms of promoting and protecting our brand.

Good stories to tellArnold Cheng was both surprised and delighted when told he’d been appointed as Director Corporate Affairs – but he also admits to a few sleepless nights after receiving the news.

“I suddenly felt a huge responsibility,” he says. “The reason I joined this company was because I was attracted by the Cathay brand, and suddenly I realised I had taken up the responsibility to protect and promote the brand I have been so proud of,” he says.

Arnold joined Cathay in 1992 after studying computer engineering at University of Hong Kong.

“I was interviewed by several companies but in the end decided to join Cathay because it was a well-managed company, a good brand, and I liked the idea of being able to work overseas to broaden my experience,” he says.

Like most management trainees, Arnold spent his first few years picking up broad-based commercial and operational experience, working in the Revenue and Airports teams and then assigned to a service delivery project before his first overseas posting, as assistant to then Country Manager Taiwan Michael Whitehead.

Back in Hong Kong he gained strategic insights working in the Business Improvement Department under Rupert Hogg,

Arnold Cheng is on a mission to strengthen Cathay’s reputation

“Stakeholder management is one of the key things I need to handle in this job – but the remit will be wider than in IAF and I will have to expand the number of stakeholders I deal with,” he says. “I need to set myself high targets in terms of protecting and promoting the Cathay brand.”

Also high on his to-do list is telling Cathay Pacific stories in a more convincing way. “We have been doing a good job issuing press releases and so on, but we haven’t been linking things together in a coherent way. Similarly on the sustainability side, we have done a lot of good things relating to the environment, but there is more we can do to raise awareness, both internally and externally, about our efforts,” he says

As CX World’s conversation with Arnold draws to a close, we notice a striking painting on his office wall which – he says with great pride – was done by his six-year-old boy.

“A lot of my out-of-work time is spent with this young man, taking him out running or going to our patch of farmland where we grow our own organic vegetables. He enjoys it so much – he loves to get his hands dirty!”

Arnold himself runs every day, though he doesn’t get involved in competitive racing due to knee surgery. “I can no longer run downhill!” he smiles.

The FlyPink campaign in 2015 saw Cathay pilots of all ranks swap out their gold bars for pink epaulettes featuring the breast cancer ribbon logo. This initiative was started by a small group of Cathay female pilots, who became inspired by the Australian campaign and saw incredible potential for a campaign in Hong Kong.

Cathay’s pilot group, colleagues and friends are dedicated to organising FlyPink, with crew members and others proud to support a cause that affects so many women and their families around the world.

The FlyPink team told CX World: “With nearly HK$205,000 raised for the Hong Kong Breast Cancer Foundation last October, this year we’re on track to double those

#CXFlyPink for a great causedonations, hopefully raising more than HK$500,000.”

More than HK$100,000 has already been raised for the campaign thanks to a Cathay old-logo merchandise sale (see left).

The FlyPink team has grander plans in store. “There’s a Pink Charity Luncheon event being held on 28 October, and we’re also involved in the final 747 farewell staff flight, plus we’re looking to organise a special A350 FlyPink flight during October to further promote awareness via an international social media campaign.”

The team is also proud to announce the inclusion of Inflight Services and Engineering in this year’s Flypink effort.

and then he was back overseas from 1996 to 2000 – first to Indonesia, then Vietnam, and then as Country Manager Turkey.

The advantages of the management trainee system were highlighted for Arnold when he worked in outports.

“As MTs we move around different departments so that we can develop knowledge, build up contacts in other areas and develop a bigger picture about how the airline works and our overall objectives. And this is especially true when you’re posted abroad and you oversee everything from sales and marketing to the airport operation.”

Arnold’s outport experience was not all smooth sailing. He was working in Turkey in 1999 when the country was rocked by a huge and deadly earthquake. Two years prior to that he was stationed in Surabaya when the Asian Financial Crisis led to rioting in the streets of Indonesia and many of the local Chinese population fled the country.

“I chose to stay in the airport hotel and look after flights and sales. GM Personnel William Chau said I could come back to Hong Kong but I said ‘no – as long as you guys continue to fly to Surabaya, I’ll be here!’”

Moving back to Head Office, Arnold was in Hong Kong Office from 2000-2004, where a highlight was working on the We Love HK promotion to get people travelling again after SARS. For eight out of the next 11 years he was in International Affairs, first as manager and later as general manager, and describes the experience as “fascinating”.

“It’s a very strategic role where you need to deal with many overseas governments as well as managing the Hong Kong government’s position and considering our own needs as well as those of other airlines,” he says. “I learnt a lot about stakeholder management and how, if you manage relationships well, you can achieve what you want.”

Sandwiched in between his two IAF postings, from 2008 to 2010, Arnold worked in Beijing as Manager Sales & Marketing, building relationships with Air China and government officials. Much of the experience he gained working with various stakeholders will come in useful in his first director position, where his portfolio includes Corporate Communication and Environmental Affairs.

Our journey over 70 years

1970 Discovery launches – our first time to offer an inflight magazine to passengers

19 Aug 1971 First Boeing 707 enters into service to much fanfare, operating the Taipei, Osaka and Tokyo route

8 Jul 1976 A passenger Boeing 707, VR-HGQ, is converted by the HAECO team into Cathay’s first pure freighter

1973 The oil crisis prompts the company to order two Lockheed L1011 TriStars. The first is delivered on 8 August 1975

1976 Also in 1976, Cathay Pacific sponsors the first Hong Kong Sevens. Forty years later the airline is still a sponsor of this iconic tournament

Mar 1978 Cathay buys its first Boeing 747-200 in February, and becomes the launch customer for the model equipped with Rolls-Royce RB211-524B2 engines

31 Jul 1979 The Royal Hong Kong Police band welcome Cathay’s first Boeing 747-200 at Kai Tak

30 Jul 1980 Cathay operates its first flight into London Gatwick after winning a long, hard battle for traffic rights. The route is operated by Boeing 747-200s via Bahrain

Apr 1982 Our first Boeing 747-200F pure freighter arrives in Hong Kong in April, cementing Cathay’s position as an air-freight carrer. The registration is VR-HVY – very heavy!

Brand Design column

“Design is a plan for arranging elements in such a way as best to accomplish a particular purpose.”

Charles Eames, architect and furniture designer

Talent for the futureNew Operational Leadership Programme added to graduate trainee initiatives

• Newly created programme aims to create a pipeline of leadership talent in operational areas• Latest recruits under IT Graduate Trainee Programmes come on board

The new Operational Leadership Programme announced this month will help accelerate high-potential operational staff into managerial roles and provide a strong talent pool from which to pick future operational leaders for the business.

“The programme offers these staff an avenue to further their personal development, take on a variety of managerial challenges, and improve both themselves and the operating divisions they work in,” explains Jonathan Bailey, Project Lead - Employee Experience.

Once selected, individuals will rotate into three different roles, lasting between two and three years.

“It is a fantastically varied programme that focuses on the training and development of the individual,” says Jonathan. “The programme will demand a lot from them, but we believe there are operational colleagues who will thrive in this environment.”

This structured accelerator programme is open to staff with two to five years’ experience working in Airports, Cargo Operations, CPCS, CPSL, Cathay/Dragonair Inflight Services, HAS or in the HKIA team.

Applications for the first batch will open at the end of September, with the final selection to be announced in December.

Meanwhile, the airline continues to nurture talent for the future through its graduate trainee programmes, including the IT Graduate

Trainee Programme which has just welcomed its latest batch of recruits.

“The programme enables fresh IT graduates to gain experience in a broad range of IT functions, while the airline benefits from the creative solutions and innovative thinking of the newcomers,” says Paul Loo, Director Corporate Development & IT.

The third batch joined the IT Department in late August, with 10 high-calibre graduates chosen from around 500 applicants.

Over the next two years, they will rotate to different IT functions, including enterprise, sales and marketing, service delivery, airline operations, infrastructure and IT service management.

Andy Wong was among the first batch, joining the scheme after graduating from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. He is now a Business Specialist in the Sales & Marketing Solutions Centre, working on the B2C digital retail platforms. “The job rotation was the most valuable element of the programme, helping to develop all-round skills and also understand myself more in terms of personal interest and career aspiration,” says Andy.

In Engineering, the Graduate Engineering Programme has been recruiting talented graduates for three decades. Joining Engineering this year are seven budding engineers.

Whilst we are updating our office signage following the brand launch two years ago, a set of office signage guidelines have been developed to help you and your contractors create and implement the right signage for your offices.

These guidelines should be used in conjunction with the Brand Architecture Guidelines. Rules around specifications such as logo exclusion zones, colours and applications have been clearly laid out in this document, which are to be adhered to under all circumstances.

You can also refer to this document when you are looking to produce internal and external signage such as building facades, totems, entrances, directories, receptions and office workspaces.

We believe this set of guidelines would help you with most types of signage and their respective applications.

Should you encounter any situation which is not covered in this document, please contact brand@cathaypacific.com for assistance.

To view these guidelines, please go to IntraCx> Brand Design> Office Signage Guidelines

CX WORLD

Our last ever 747 passenger flight will be a Special Farewell Flight for our people. Proceeds generated from the flight, which spells the end of an era for Cathay, will be contributed to a worthy cause.

“Most people at Cathay will have had varying forms of interaction with generations of 747s over their careers. And as a company today, we owe much to her great service,” says Mark Sutch, General Manager Cargo Sales & Marketing and one of the staff flight organisers.

“The aircraft has been the cornerstone of Cathay’s ultra-long haul development and took us from a respected regional brand to a globally recognised and celebrated organisation,” he says.

More than 900 employees applied to join the flight with the lucky participants being decided by lucky draw.

Every passenger on board the flight will contribute a minimum of HK$747 to October’s FlyPink campaign (see page 7).

All proceeds collected will go to the Hong Kong Breast Cancer Foundation.

An investment made by Cathay Pacific in the US-based biofuel firm Fulcrum Bioenergy is getting closer to fruition.

Fulcrum is a pioneer in thermochemical technology that can turn household waste into jet fuel.

Earlier this year, the company completed the primary phase of its first refinery – a feedstock processing facility in Reno – where household waste is brought to be shredded, filtered and sorted, separating ferrous and nonferrous metals, plastics and other materials.

The recyclable materials are sold, with the remaining organic material, packed and stored, in preparation for phase 2 of the project – the construction of the fuel production facility which will commence before the end of the year.

Biofuel Manager Jeff Ovens (pictured) says that Cathay was the first airline to invest directly in a sustainable aviation fuel company, with other airlines following in our wake.

While Cathay waits for the first jet fuel from Fulcrum, the airline has been flying with fuel produced by another US-based firm, Amyris, which uses a process where yeast organisms are modified to excrete certain chemicals which can then be refined into jet fuel.

This process is being carried out on an industrial scale in Brazil and, in conjunction with AirTOTAL, the fuel produced is being used to help power all of our new A350s flying out of Toulouse.

“To date we have delivered four aircraft, and inadvertently claimed the world’s longest biofuel-powered flight to date at over 12 hours!” Jeff says.

Goodbye 747

Buzz builds around biofuel

Sustainability is most successful when teams work together to achieve our common goals in the long term. This year’s sustainability report is themed around collaborative work at Cathay

Together for Tomorrow

Sustainability has been a constant pursuit over the years at Cathay Pacific. We have made significant progress in the past, but sustainability issues have become far more complex and require collaborative efforts from different teams to tackle these issues.

This year’s Sustainability Report is a testament to the joint efforts of everyone at Cathay Pacific. Our people

A340 aircraft recycling Four of our Airbus A340-300s, each weighing 125 tonnes, were retired in 2015 and transferred to a workshop in Southern France to undergo a recycling process.

Up to 90% of their components can be recycled, reused, or recovered. This means we have reduced waste sent to landfills to less than 10% and we have also saved over 90% in energy from producing recycled aluminium relative to new aluminium.

More details including the steps involved in recycling can be found in our report.

Biofuel plant construction According to Fulcrum, our sustainable fuel developer, jet fuel produced by the waste-to-fuels process will reduce lifecycle carbon emissions when used in aircraft by 50-80%.

In 2015, Fulcrum began constructing the first phase of its first commercial-scale plant. When production begins, the plant will convert more than 163,000 tonnes of prepared municipal solid waste feedstock into approximately 11 million gallons per year of renewable synthetic crude oil that will be further refined into low carbon jet fuel.

Inflight carpets Our latest Economy Class cabin, which was introduced in 2012, features carpets produced from regenerated nylon waste materials such as discarded fishing nets, fabric, and carpets. These have been installed across the Cathay Pacific and Dragonair wide-bodied passenger fleet such as the Airbus A330 and Boeing 777 aircraft.

The use of regenerated material helps to eliminate waste and reduce the energy needed for the primary production of nylon. More importantly, the removal of marine debris such as discarded fishing nets can reduce the threat posed to marine animals.

The 2015 Sustainability Report is available under About Us at the Cathay Pacific website.

have come together to ensure the airline stays on the path to fully embedding the value and practice of sustainability into how we conduct day-to-day business.

In this year’s report, themed Together for Tomorrow, there are stories and updates on various topics including safety, climate change, waste management, sustainable sourcing and biodiversity. Below are other examples.

Thanks for the supportLetter from a cabin crew

I would like to give praise to a compassionate company – Cathay Pacific. I was very touched by the compassion shown to me and my family during recent trying times when my sister was diagnosed with breast cancer and had to undergo surgery.

My presence was required and, within a few hours of my request, arrangements were made to make it possible for me to fly out and be with her for the entire stay at the hospital.

Thank you Cathay – a company I am very proud to be a part of!

During a recent catch-up with a retired colleague, they noted it would be great to remain in the loop about everything that’s happening in Cathay Pacific.

Would there be any consideration given to allowing retirees access to CX World, or enabling current employees to save the publication and forward it on? Kawai Wong, CX World Editor, replies: Thanks for contacting us!

First, everyone can access CX World through the Cathay website. Go to the About Us section of cathaypacific.com and you will see a CX World Online link in the Press Room section. You can also access a PDF version via the CX World link at the bottom of the IntraCX landing page.

We are launching a new publication in early 2017 and will explore ways to provide a more rewarding digital experience to our readers.

CX World for retirees?Letter from Cameron Ritchie, Melbourne

Letters to the editor

Are we premium enough?Star letter winnerEngineering colleague

Recently I took a competitor airline in Economy for a Taipei trip and found that the service provided was what Cathay used to have many years ago – quality blankets for all passengers and a full meal followed by coffee/tea serving.

At Cathay we position ourselves as a premium airline, but passengers are told “no blankets on short-haul flights”, and only a chicken wrap is served as the meal.

I can understand such measures as

temporary when the fuel price was high, but fuel costs have since dropped. How do we position ourselves in the market now?

Aaron Claxton, Head of Catering, replies: The Economy Class snack bag service was introduced for Manila and Taipei back in 2014. We serve this along with a cold drink and cookies which, after much research, was deemed appropriate for these short-haul sectors. Hot beverages are also available to passengers upon request.

With a very short flying time, we believe the snack bag service enables our cabin crew to deliver a more professional service so that our passengers can enjoy

the inflight entertainment and get more personal time during their short time on board.

As for blankets, finding the right balance for the blanket uplift is always a challenge. Currently, we offer blankets to 100% of Economy passengers on long-haul, Middle Eastern and overnight flights.

Due to various constraints, we are limited to the quantity we load on some routings and so can only provide blankets upon request in Economy on regional flights, with the uplift ratio based on historical data.

We review the demand for blankets on each route and make adjustments if necessary.

Win a Business Class wine!

ISD offers a bottle from the Business Class selection every month for the Star Letter prize winner. This month, the prize is a bottle of Borsao Tres Picos DO Campo De Borja 2012made from Garnacha (Grenache)

grapes. Got any suggestions, questions or interesting observations to share

with CX World? Write to PNL#COM!

FEEDBACK

Apr 1992 Cathay Pacific Airways orders its first Boeing 777

1988 The Cathay Pacific Cadet pilot programme launches

Oct 1994 The airline takes delivery of its first Airbus A340-300

Mar 1992 Personal television arrives in First Class

Jan 1993 Cathay Pacific Catering Services is formed

1995 Cathay takes delivery of our first Airbus A330-300 for use on regional and medium-haul routes

1994 Brushwing livery introduced

23 Sep 1983 Cathay Pacific’s first aircraft, a DC3 called Betsy, arrives back in Hong Kong from Australia. She is donated to the Hong Kong Museum of Science & Technology where she still resides today

15 May 1986 In the airline’s 40th anniversary year, Cathay goes public on 15 May and is listed in the Hong Kong Stock Exchange

Service Straight

from the Heart

The baggage system at London Heathrow Terminal 3 broke down on 19 July morning, causing more than 1,600 items of passenger baggage to be left behind.

This put a huge burden on the Baggage Team at HKIA over the following few days as they worked hard to arrange baggage re-delivery, assist passengers with reports, and handle a growing number of enquiries.

“It was probably the largest-scale baggage disruption out of an outport that we’ve dealt with,” says Louis Zung, Baggage Services Supervisor. There were two full days without any baggage being sent from London to Hong Kong and the impact lasted for nearly a week.”

Although the system was back to normal by 21 July, it took a much longer time to process due to the massive backlog.

“The biggest challenge was that we didn’t know when the baggage would arrive from London,” Louis says. “Our team had to manually match a full of list of records with baggage arriving from different London flights and then contact all affected passengers individually. We also proactively updated affected passengers, both local and in transit, on the status of their baggage.”

The short-shipped baggage was gradually sent back to Hong Kong on 23-24 July, during which time the entire Baggage Team worked day and night to trace, organise and deliver hundreds of bags back to passengers in Hong Kong and overseas.

“Despite the difficult situation we were able to deal with the situation professionally and efficiently, putting our regularly reviewed contingency plan into action,” Louis says.

“We were especially touched by those colleagues who volunteered to stay behind or came back on their days off – such team-spirit is highly commendable. Our gratitude also extends to the London team and our HAS colleagues for their tremendous support.”

Bags of dedication at HKIA

CX WORLD

Louis Zung, Baggage Services Supervisor, and the Baggage Team

The countdown to Cathay Dragon

A new look for uniforms

On first inspection, it may not seem like much has changed, and in fact the base fabric and construction hasn’t been touched. But those familiar with Dragonair uniforms will notice some subtle changes being made to the accessories as the airline transitions into Cathay Dragon.

For cabin crew, changes have been made to their name badge, brooch and baggage tag.

The changes for cockpit crew are more significant, with their tie, wings brooch, jacket buttons, belt, epaulettes and stripes all being updated.

As an example of the changes, epaulettes will take on a champagne gold colour, as opposed to the current brighter gold tone, to better reflect Cathay Dragon’s new design ethos.

“We felt this new colour was more refined and understated, but still reflective of a premium experience” says Manager Aircrew Alwin Fernandes.

The design process also resulted in a new uniform accessory for cockpit crew – a customised pouch to store their epaulettes, stripes and wings brooch.

Cabin crew will notice their Cathay Dragon brooch has taken on the design of a half wing, mirroring the cockpit crew’s wings brooch (see below).

“We thought this was a great opportunity to draw a stronger connection between cabin and cockpit crew through the wings brooch,” says Assistant Manager – Grooming & Uniform, Sally Lo.

The new uniform items, which will be distributed starting October, have been through several rounds of prototyping, testing and refining.

“At the end of the day we want the uniforms to be premium, functional and something our people will be proud of,” says Ruaraidh Smeaton, Brand Manager.

The journey to developing the new identity for Cathay Dragon has been a deeply considered one.

“We asked ourselves, how can we bring the Cathay Pacific and Dragonair identities together visually so that even if you’re only familiar with one of the brands you see them both as part of the same airline group?” says Brand Manager Ruaraidh Smeaton.

Reinforcing the idea of a seamless experience has been at the core of the changes, helping to reassure passengers of consistently high standards across the two brands.

Earlier this year Dragonair was named as one of the “top 10 airlines you’ve never heard” of in an article in the UK’s The Telegraph.

“That article revealed Dragonair as a quality airline, but also highlighted awareness issues – and bringing the two identities together will help with this,” says Ruaraidh.

The two biggest changes are the renaming of Dragonair to Cathay Dragon and the introduction of the brushwing on the tail, removing the dragon in the process.

Red has been retained as a brand colour but a subtle change has been made to the shade of red, moving to a richer, deeper hue to reinforce the premium quality of the brand.

While the dragon device has been removed from the central identity, it hasn’t be eliminated completely. It will live on in the Cathay Dragon livery which features the dragon closer to the aircraft nose as a way to connect the airline to its heritage and history.

From afar the dragon icon will look exactly as it always has but, up close, you will notice subtle changes that were made after consultation with a feng shui master who is an expert in dragon design.

The only other elements that will separate the Cathay Dragon livery from Cathay Pacific are the use of red and the inclusion of the brand name in Chinese.

“Cathay Dragon is still a regional brand, so we wanted to present that subtly through the use of Chinese language,” says Ruaraidh.

Thinking behind our new identity and livery

Getting into the gameNew scheduled freighter destination – Portland – to launch on 3 November

• Cathay expands freighter network to Pacific Northwest of the USA for the first time• Portland has become a key centre for e-commerce, athletic wear and perishable goods• City to become Cathay’s 18th freighter destination in the Americas

Portland, Oregon is sometimes referred to as “Silicon Forest” for its blend of hi-tech and nature.

The city is also home to a cluster of athletic-wear companies as well as being an e-commerce centre, and Cathay Pacific plans to tap into this economic activity by expanding its freighter services to the Pacific Northwest of the USA.

A twice-weekly scheduled service launches on 3 November and Portland will become the airline’s 18th cargo station in the Americas.

The routing for the flights, operating every Thursday and Saturday, will be Hong Kong – Anchorage – Los Angeles –Portland – Anchorage – Hong Kong using the Boeing 747-8F.

“The Americas is a very important market for us and the new service will meet growing demand to move a wide range of commodities from the Pacific Northwest and the US to various parts of Asia,” says General Manager Cargo Sales & Marketing Mark Sutch.

The new route brings myriad business opportunities, as Fred Ruggiero, Vice President Cargo, Americas, explains.

“Given Oregon state’s tax-free status, Portland has quickly

To better serve the airline’s people, the company is now refurbishing key meeting facilities at Cathay City, including the main Auditorium, which has already been closed for upgrading the audio and video (AV) system, and TDC training rooms 431 to 433.

While the Auditorium is under renovation, rooms 431-433 have been reopened after refurbishment work and can now be converted into one “mini Auditorium” with seating for up to 170 people, with a user-friendly and contemporary AV system that includes a simultaneous interpretation system, digitalised audio and wireless speakers and microphones, and the ability to project to the screen from handheld devices.

As for the Auditorium, the revamp will incorporate a simultaneous interpretation system, an LED wall screen to replace the outdated projection screen, and the installation of video broadcast capabilities with three HD cameras to capture the lectern, stage and audience.

“The current audio-visual equipment is over 17 years old so these improvements will provide a better user experience and also avoid the high maintenance costs of the old system,” says Head of Property & Services Irene Ip.

“With the Auditorium and TDC rooms being a key part of our training and development programmes, these upgrades will be hugely beneficial.”

Meeting facilities move into the future

Cathay has launched a new inflight menu promotion for all classes on selected long-haul flights with Mott 32 – one of Hong Kong’s most admired modern Chinese restaurants. CX World chats to Malcom Wood (right), the creative mind at the heart of this exciting partnership.

Hi Malcolm, tell us a little bit about you? I am the Culinary Director behind Maximal Concepts and Mott 32.

What surprised you about working with an airline?This was a new realm for us, taking our brand to the skies. It was refreshing to work with a like-minded brand; we share a passion for delivering unique, quality experiences.

In what ways do Cathay and Mott 32 share a philosophy?We both embody the spirit of our city in our values and ethos, as a celebration of Hong Kong culture. We are dedicated to providing only the highest quality products and services and we place equal importance on both our customers and our teams. How’s our collaboration looking? For now, Cathay’s passengers are in for a spectacular inflight dining experience.

Tell us more about how you created the menu. We have an ingredient-led philosophy that respects traditional cooking methods. Origins are important to us, whether that’s ingredients or the centuries-old recipes we are inspired by. Quality is a priority. For example, when deciding on the breed and origin of duck we serve, we spent months sourcing and taste-testing to ensure superior quality. It had to be the best. We are immensely proud of the entire menu.

How are you finding the working relationship between Cathay and Mott 32? Cathay were really receptive to our creative vision. As a culinary team, it’s exciting and creates so many opportunities. We worked closely with Cathay to see what was possible, logistically.

From managing a restaurant to serving airline customers, any challenges there?It was really interesting for our team to learn the process and scale at which food needs to be prepared for airline service!

Menu collaboration with the hippest Chinese restaurant in town The TDC “mini Auditorium”

is a versatile space that can seat up to 170 and makes use of the latest conferencing technologies. The ‘new’ Auditorium is scheduled to be available for booking from 15 November.

become one of the key centres for e-commerce in North America. We currently serve Vancouver, which works well for us, but exporters need to ship goods across the border, or south to San Francisco or Los Angeles, which can add an extra day of transit,” Fred says.

“There is a strong export market from the Pacific Northwest area, encompassing both Oregon and Washington, with commodities such as perishables, seafood, e-commerce, apparel, aircraft parts, as well as semi-finished footwear.

Portland is the home base for many of the world’s biggest sportswear brands, including Nike, which is headquartered just outside the city.

“With high demand for these types of goods in Asia, adding Portland will bring greater flexibility for importers when connecting to our international cargo network through the Hong Kong hub,” Fred explains.

The Portland operation will be staffed by a cargo manager, duty manager and an agent, plus a ramp handling agent and warehouse operator.

CX WORLD

1999 Our new headquarters complex, Cathay City, is officially opened

2001 First and Business passengersgot AVOD audioand video on demand in2001

2002 Air Hong Kong becomes a wholly owned subsidiary of Cathay Pacific Airways

1999 First Class flatbed launches

28 Nov 2002 Cathay takes first delivery of the first Airbus A340-600

2003 Wins Skytrax Airline of the Year for the first time

1997 Cathay Pacific becomes the launch customer for the Boeing 777-300

Oct 1996 TriStar retires from the fleet

6 Jul 1998 CX251 to London becomes the last flight to depart Kai Tak; CX889 from New York becomes the first flight to land at Chek Lap Kok – this is also the world’s first nonstop transpolar flight from JFK to HKG

Big plans for the Lean team • Lean’s key focus is on impact – both in financial terms and value to people• Opportunities to improve the operations range from small quick wins to big projects like Ground Time Optimisation• The team is coming up with a series of internal training and secondment programmes to make Lean more accessible to our people

With a new team structure, the Lean team is currently developing this year’s programme, hoping to transform it into something more accessible and relatable to everyone throughout Cathay Pacific.

CX World caught up with Norman Pipitone to find out more about the team’s latest developments.

What is the key focus for the Lean programme moving forward?Our key focus is on projects that make an impact – impact that’s not just measured in financial terms, but in the value it adds to Cathay.

We’re looking for opportunities where we can make small tweaks to yield big differences fiscally, as well as improving staff satisfaction and customer experience.

There are plenty of opportunities to improve our organisation, from small quick wins to big projects like Ground Time Optimisation (GTO).

Alfred Weston, Lean Programme Manager I also joined Lean in late

August. I spent the last five years working at Swire Pacific Offshore. It has been great to have already met a number of people across Cathay that are working on various lean projects or have ideas to develop. One of my roles will be to work on a Lean Management System that tracks and supports these various projects.

Chris Wong, Manager Lean Programmes I joined the Cathay family

in February 2016. Together with Norman, we work hand in hand on company Lean strategy while leading projects and culture change initiatives. I play an important role to build continuous improvement capability by coaching and mentoring Lean professionals across the group. “Less is more” and I look forward to hearing each of your own transformation stories.

Go and See (Gemba) is about getting out and seeing first-hand actual processes and understanding how tasks are performed. It’s a chance for staff to walk the floor of their workplace, outside of their day-to-day tasks, to identify wasteful experiences in order to generate ideas for improvement.

Lean jargon busters

What are the big plans for the Lean team? The obvious one is GTO, an initiative focused on improving our pit-stop performance during flight turnarounds to improve OTP.

GTO is already in phase two where the HKIA learnings will become the guidelines for the outports to develop their own plans to improve OTP. We’ve also been working on a Baggage

Service Enhancement project at HKIA, in an effort to mitigate the problem of delayed, damaged or lost baggage, a source of great inconvenience to our passengers.

In the next 12 months, we’ll also be working on large-scale process changes in IT, PNL and GCC (Global Contact Centres).

Part of the Lean team at work. From left to right, Norman Pipitone, Chris Wong and Sally Wong

Kaizen is a Quick Win improvement exercise that takes up to 10 days. Analysis is conducted, improvements are identified and changes are actioned immediately to improve a process or work area.

How do you select which Lean projects to pursue?The Lean projects we select are those that support Cathay’s mission and vision, and ones that directly influence the delivery of our Life Well Travelled promise – to both our people and our customers.

This sees our programme work with a diverse range of departments and services across Cathay.

How can office staff get involved with Lean in our day-to-day activities? Everyone can be a part of Lean, no matter where you are and what you do. Not only can you contribute ideas to improve our big projects, you can also take part in our internal training and secondment programme to learn about how to improve our office’s day-to-day efficiencies and productivity – so stay tuned!

Everyone can be part of Lean, no matter where you

are and what you do...

Meet theLean team new joiners

Sally Wong, Lean Programme Manager I joined the Lean team in

late August. It’s an exciting time for us as we see many Lean project opportunities across the business. We operate in a challenging business environment and therefore we need to constantly come up with ways to work simpler and smarter. If you have any feedback on our Lean programmes, feel free to get in touch!

Norman Pipitone, Head of the Lean Programme I joined the Lean team in

March. I’ve led projects in more than 15 countries in the last decade. I am responsible to define and drive the company Lean strategy to ensure an excellent customer experience. I believe that every problem presents an opportunity for improvement.

Lean is about improving the way we work to deliver Service Straight from the Heart

2016 has been a positive year so far for Cathay team in Japan, with revenue growing 5.3% in the first half of the year.

All five major markets – Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Fukuoka and Sapporo – have enjoyed positive growth, with Sapporo’s revenue soaring by 43%.

“The improved performance has been driven by a significant increase in passenger numbers, which is partially a result of the strengthening yen,” outgoing General Manager Japan Clarence Tai explains.

The Japanese currency has appreciated by more than 15% against the Hong Kong dollar since the beginning of the year, making travel more affordable for Japanese tourists.

Developing Hong Kong as a leisure destination for Japanese travellers is a major priority for the Japan team, and they were encouraged to see a 10% increase in passengers to the SAR in the first six months of 2016.

“Taiwan has also been very popular with an almost 20% increase in passengers, although most of this growth has been leisure traffic in the Economy cabin,” Clarence says.

Online sales through the Cathay website have been performing particularly well, recording 20% growth against 2015.

“Leisure Packages are a popular product in Japan, so the launch of the Travel Retail Platform (TRP) in April, which enables the sale of hotel stays alongside air tickets through the corporate website, has provided a real boost,” Clarence explains, adding that bookings via TRP have been growing by several hundred per cent on a month-on-month basis.

“Clearly this enhancement to the website has unleashed a lot of potential in the Japan market and the team are looking forward to enhancing the product offering for the rest of 2016 and beyond,” Clarence says.

On the operational side, the Japan team is set to bid an emotional farewell to the 747-400 as it takes its final commercial flight from Haneda to Hong Kong on 1 October.

“It will be sad to see her go, but hopefully the buzz around this occasion will send the aircraft off in style and help spur Japan on to a strong finish in 2016,” Clarence says.

Country team focus includes developing Hong Kong as a leisure destination

1 DUBAIDubai airport closure tests team’s mettle A major incident occurred at Dubai International Airport on 3 August when an aircraft from another airline caught fire on the runway. Fortunately, everyone onboard was safe.

The closure of the airport and the restrictions of the single runway operation that followed resulted in a number of Cathay flights being delayed and cancelled.

In Dubai, hundreds of affected Cathay passengers were contacted in advance, assisted and rerouted during this period.

With the frontline teams as well as volunteers from other departments working around the clock, over the weekend and on their days off, the Dubai team managed to help all the stranded passengers to continue their travel plans with minimum delays.

The support given by all the team members during this difficult time was commendable and we were able to resume normal business from 6 August. Work Well Done!

The team is pictured after their hard work handling the disruptions.

2 INDIA Warm welcome for SAMEA Country ManagersA special event took place in the Mumbai regional office on 22 July, with the India team bidding farewell to Country Managers Parthenia Lai (Nepal) and Will Kerr-Muir (Bahrain & Saudi Arabia).

People Manager SAMEA Neil Andrade expressed his gratitude to Parthenia and Will for their contributions to the regions during their tenure.

General Manager SAMEA Charlie-Stewart Cox presented the outgoing managers with a collage of photographs to commemorate the time they spent in their respective countries.

New Country Managers Keri Lui (Nepal), Aldric Chau (Sri Lanka & Maldives), Jonathan Ng (Bahrain & Saudi Arabia) and Anezka Chan (Maldives) were given a traditional Indian welcome and introduced to Bollywood dancing!

Building an online buzz in Japan

Outport news Station updates1

OUTPORTS

The Town Office team in Tokyo gathered to say goodbye to outgoing General Manager Japan Clarence Tai (right) and welcome his successor, Lionel Kwok (front left).

• Growth in revenue out of Japan market, despite strong competition• Hong Kong the focus but sales to Taiwan have also increased• Launch of Travel Retail Platform in April unleashes potential in market

3 SYDNEYEmergency response put to the testThe Australia team participated in a large scale E&A exercise held by the Emergency Services of the New South Wales government on 28 August.

Cathay was the only airline to provide support and knowledge to the organising committee. Other supporting units included more than 700 people from emergency services.

The Cathay team of 13 staff were at the airport to observe the actions and, in total, 22 Australia staff were involved in various aspects of the drill.

4 CEBUGiving back to the community – and the environment The Cebu team ran a dual-objective CSR project this year to help school children and also facilitate the rehabilitation of the mangrove ecosystem.

The Cebu team visited more than 650 students of Po-o Elementary School on Olango Island.

“We brought some donated amenity kits to the students to encourage them to practice good hygiene at home,” says Southern Philippines’ Marketing & Communications Supervisor Connie Cimafranca. “We also helped build the school’s library, so we wanted to see that it is well-maintained and stays useful for the students.”

The second objective was to plant 3,000 mangroves near the school. “Planting mangroves helps the environment and also contributes to the viability of the fishing industry, a main source of livelihood for the islanders,” adds Connie.

Outport people

CX WORLD

Keeping it in the family31 August was a red-letter day for the family of Nadia Francken, Airport Services Supervisor in Melbourne.

It marked the last working day for her father, Salim Shamid, Engineering Manager in MEL, who was retiring after 36 years of service.

“We dragged him out to the aircraft to take photos of him in the engine and on the flight deck, which were presented to him later at his retirement party,” Nadia says.

“Our caterer prepared a big cake while a few of us brought homemade goodies to celebrate with the Engineering and Airport teams,” Nadia says.

Salim’s ENG colleagues arranged a separate farewell dinner, while the regional management team hosted a lunch in honour of his contribution to the airline.

“Dad is planning to travel more often with my mum, but I’m expecting my fourth baby next month so he will have plenty of babysitting duties to keep him occupied,” Nadia smiles.

Nadia herself started with Cathay as a casual staff in December 1999, becoming permanent in 2001 after graduation.

“Dad didn’t influence my career choice. Actually his boss at the time told me to apply for the job and I think if Dad had his way, he would have told me not to – I suspect he knew I would never leave this industry once I had it in my blood!”

Nadia is delighted to be working in the dynamic airport environment. “Every shift is different and we always come across something new – it makes for a fun and enjoyable workplace,” she says.

WHO WHAT WHERE

Dec 2010 The current cabin crew uniform, designed by Eddie Lau, is introduced in December

2013 The Cathay Pacific Cargo Terminal goes into full operation, operated by Cathay Pacific Services Ltd (CPSL)

Oct 2012 Internal “People and Service” campaign attracts more than8,000 staff to make their own ads in Hong Kong

Jul 2009 The last Classic freighter, B-HVZ, is retired from the fleet – and with it go the final Flight Engineers

Feb 2012 Company cuts over to a new Passenger Services System (PSS)

Nov 2012 First Boeing 747-8 freighter arrives in Hong Kong

Oct 2007 The Cathay Pacific Experience opens at Cathay City

Mar 2003 The first Cathay signature CSR activity, “I Can Fly”, is launched, with 500 youngsters taking part. The biannual programme helps youngsters gain valuable insight into the aviation industry

Sep 2006 In September, Dragonair becomes a wholly owned subsidiary, while Cathay and Air China take up a significant cross-shareholding as part of the same deal

Asia Miles members can now use their miles to help a rural community by redeeming to give a cow to a farmer, provide a road for a village, meals and a safe haven, donate a running place for a person with disabilities, and even redeem for a disease prevention kit.

“Our members have always dug deep when supporting Asia Miles social goods,” says Asia Miles CEO Stephen S.Y. Wong. “We want to continue to bring more meaningful packages to engage our members and give back to the community.”

View a variety of unique social goods from Oxfam HK or the Hong Kong Committee for UNICEF on http://redeem.asiamiles.com.

Oxfam HK and HK Committee for UNICEF will be hosting their largest sporting fundraising events, both of which will be supported by Asia Miles. Support Oxfam Trailwalker which will be held 18-20 November and the UNICEF Charity Run on 27 November.

New ways to use your miles charitably

Living and breathingWork Well Done

Outstanding contribution to Cargo growth

Effective working style adds to A350 success

Manager Cargo Sales Pearl River Delta & Hong Kong Aaron Chan wrote on the Recognition Wall: Thank you Eric very much for your hard work and dedication.

Since your supervisor Vivien went on a long leave last year, you have been working on your own to cover Kunming’s cargo sales and services functions.

We know from your work that you have a very strong desire to learn about our cargo business and operations, and to run them smoothly.

By 23 July 2016, Kunming achieved an outstanding performance, with tonnage growth of 59% and revenue growth of 24%!

Your hard work is much appreciated. You always work overtime, including during the weekend, in order to ensure all cargo work is completed. On average, you worked 36 hours overtime every month between January and July, especially during the period before our CSS cutover.

Kunming’s smooth cutover is no longer “mission impossible” and to think that you’re also the only cargo staff we have in Kunming!

Thank you again, Eric!

Head of A350 Project Bob Taylor wrote on the Recognition Wall: Ashley was key to the success of the A350 Project and brought valuable operational experience to bear with an effective working style across teams and departments.

The A350 Project involved working with a range of work stream issues that required decisions to be made, actions to be taken and process change to be implemented across key operational departments in the airline while working also working closely with teams from IT, Airbus, the HK Civil Aviation Department and our maintenance provider, HAECO.

There were naturally many issues and challenges along the way, against an immovable project timeline, while also requiring time and resource from teams that also needed to focus on their primary roles.

Despite this, Ashley handled these challenges in a mature and professional manner, aligning teams, simplifying complex issues to enable speedy decision making, driving teams to deliver to timelines and ultimately contributing greatly to the successful execution of the project. Ashley demonstrated strong commitment, drive for excellence and perseverance. He has now moved on to a new position but, when he looks back in the future, he should be very proud of his contribution to the success of this key project. A big thanks from myself and all the project team.

Eric Zhang, Cargo Officer, Kunming Ashley Coble,

Principal Line Maintenance Engineer

Two of our great Work Well Done stories from around the network... visit our Recognition Wall for more

Have you nominated recently? It only takes two minutes www.cathaypacific.com/workwelldone

CX WORLD

One minute with... Norman MacLeod, Human Factors Manager, FOP1. Can you tell us why you are such a proud dad at the moment? My daughter, Hannah, won a gold medal with the GB women’s hockey team in the Rio Olympics! I have witnessed the sacrifice and effort she put in to achieve her dream, and that’s what makes me most proud.

2. Did you always believe that Hannah could win gold in Brazil? In London, I knew they would get bronze. This time, I just wanted them to do well. I saw the team play in June and they lost to five of the teams they would be facing in Rio. They clearly went away and had some serious conversations!

3. Did you watch the games on TV? I was there, so watched it all live – and watched it all again on TV when I got back to the UK. How sad is that?

4. How did you react when the final whis-tle blew? When it ended in a draw this time, I knew the title was ours. I couldn’t watch the penalty shootout. It was only when my wife started screaming that I knew we’d won!

5. What did you say to Hannah after the event? I asked her what an Olympic gold might fetch on eBay – and then reminded her that she made history.

6. What next for Hannah? At the moment it’s just one round of TV and media appearances. She’s also doing a lot of work at local hockey clubs to promote the sport. Then, I think she needs to get a proper job!

7. Will there be a big family celebration soon? We have something planned in early Novem-ber.

8. You are also proud of your son – what’s he been up to? He is now a Second Officer on the 777 fleet. He’s wanted to be an airline pilot ever since we had a family holiday and flew to the Ca-nary Islands on a TriStar.

9. Did you influence his decision to join Cathay? Far from it. I travelled to Hong Kong to get away from my children, not to have them fol-low me!

10. What’s next for you personally? My time at Cathay is coming to an end … I depart for the UK at the end of November.

Gone, but never forgottenCathay pays glowing tributes to Joe Sutter, who passed away last month

• ‘Father of the 747’ revolutionised air travel for generations • Aviation legend had a very close connection with Cathay and Hong Kong

The aviation world lost one of its legendary figures on 31 August when Joe Sutter – forever to be known as the “Father of the 747” – passed away in Seattle. He was 95.

As the chief engineer who led the development of the Boeing 747 in the 1960s, Joe, more than any other individual, was credited with revolutionising air travel during the latter decades of the 20th century.

The 747 is, without question, the most iconic and successful commercial aircraft of all time. It was the aircraft that changed the world and, from 1979, set Cathay Pacific on the path to becoming a truly global carrier.

Over the years, Joe built up a very close connection with Cathay and its home city. Engineering Director Christopher Gibbs says he had a great passion for the airline, and for the Cathay team.

“I met Joe again in February at the Boeing leadership summit in Seattle, and he was still enquiring about Cathay, still passionate for the business, and still giving advice to the ‘young, Boeing team,” Chris says.

“He was a real inspiration for me and for many engineers. I will

miss him for his aviation passion, for his engineering excellence, but mainly for his sheer amiability.”

In early August, a Cathay team flew to Seattle to pick up the airline’s 14th and final Boeing 747-8F.

Joe, who never stopped living and breathing aviation, hosted a party at his home on the shores of Puget Sound for the delivery team which included Captain Mark Hoey, General Manager Operations, who had built up a close friendship with Joe.

“Although he was 95 he was as sharp as a tack and his passion for the 747 was as strong as ever,” recalls Mark.

“Joe loved coming to Hong Kong – it was a city that fascinated him,” continues Mark. “He was always very gracious to Cathay Pacific and was very generous with his time and support for our staff.

“He was one of the great aviation figureheads of the 20th century.”

Joe’s passing came just as Cathay prepares to say goodbye to its last passenger 747. When the aircraft does finally disappear from the world’s airports and airways to take a well-earned retirement, it, like Joe, will be greatly missed.

Joe Sutter pictured with Cathay’s 14th and final 747-8F last month (top) and at home in Puget Sound with the aircraft’s delivery team (above).

Brushwingers...

My story with aviation started from plane-spotting. I go to Hong Kong Airport twice a month – not for work – just to take photos of aircraft. Capturing a particular aircraft is a bit like playing

Pokemon Go, as some types can only be found at certain airports – you can only spot the 747 prototype in Seattle. Like life, plane-spotting is a matter of dedication!

When I graduated from university in Shanghai in the late 90s, I decided to go to Hong Kong. After spending over 20 years here in the shipping business, I decided to take a challenge: to

steer myself out of the water and to join the skies, at an airline based in the Fragrant Harbour to extend my new life! I am proud to be working for Cathay, amongst 6,000 people in Cathay City!

I grew up in London, UK. One of the city’s endless hidden gems – and a favourite place of mine for a weekend walk – is Islington’s Abney Park Cemetery, a beautiful old graveyard that dates back

to the 18th century. It’s completely overgrown and looks like something out of an other-worldly painting – lots of music videos have been filmed here, including Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black.

WHO WHAT WHERE

Say hello to some of our new people at Cathay!

Winggo Ng – Graduate Engineer, ENG

Frank Wu - Cargo Sales Development Manager, CGO

John Ovans - Assistant Manager Editorial Content, ECX

A vintage viewPassion for portraits using cameras from the past

• Flight Purser Gilbert Hui has a passion for por-trait photography

• A fondness for vintage cameras bonds Gilbert with other photography enthusiasts

ISD’s Discovering Talent exhibition series in Cathay City has seen a stunning collection of cabin crew photography go on display over the past couple of months, including the eye-catching portraits taken by Flight Purser Gilbert Hui (right).

“I am the kind of person who is very eager to know how things work. Besides cooking, driving and flying, I find photography an area that I really want to explore,” Gilbert says.

“There is a whole lot to explore about photography, and the continuous challenges have piqued my interest for more than a decade!”

Besides taking pictures, Gilbert is also an avid collector of vintage cameras.

“It all started with a Rolleiflex, which has a unique, attractive outlook, and it was love at first sight,” Gilbert smiles.

“I aimed to buy a non-working model for a low price just for decoration, but when the technician checked the camera, he told me it could be fixed easily.”

Gilbert appreciates the fully manual operations of old cameras, where “every step is fun”. Quality is another important consideration.

New YorkCanon G7, March 2009 I met this man near the New Yorker hotel and he was holding a 4x5 large-format camera with a flashgun mounted, exactly as World War 2 photojournalists would have done. I was carrying my Rolleiflex that day, and I requested to take a selfie with him holding our classic cameras.

Durres, AlbaniaRolleiflex 2.8E2 Planar, March 2012 We intended to try a train service from the capital Tirana in Albania to the coastal city of Durres, operated by Soviet Russian locomotives pulling retired Swiss coaches. The train driver took a break and was happy to pose for my picture.

QingdaoRolleiflex 2.8E Planar, July 2009 I was planning to take a shot of this old-school Chinese train and there was one passenger who looked out and stared at me in curiously. I guess he was wondering what this guy with the box was doing!

Gilbert’s Favourite Shots

“A lot of these vintage cameras come with superior lenses. Rolleiflex have Carl Zeiss and Schneider lenses, which are highly rated even today.”

When Gilbert uses vintage cameras in public, he always invites curiosity.

“Some will come and ask what I am using, or even what I am doing,” Gilbert says. “Sometimes these onlookers end up becoming my photography subject!”

Nov 2015 In November, Cathay Pacific unveils a new livery that aligns with the airline’s brand ethos. This is the first time in 20 years for the fleet to get a total facelift

29 Mar 2014 CX780 from Surabaya to Hong Kong landed safely after both engines were affected by contaminated fuel. Capt Malcolm Waters and First Officer David Hayhoe received the Polaris Award for heroism and airmanship

Oct 2016 Last passenger Boeing 747 retires from fleet Jan 2014

Life Well Travelled campaign launched

2015 Four of our A340s were retired in 2015 and transferred to a workshop to be environmentally broken down

Jan 2016 It is announced that Dragonair will be rebranded as Cathay Dragon on 21 November, bringing the two airline brands into much closer alignment

May 2016 In May, our first Airbus A350, B-LRA, arrives in Hong Kong. We have ordered 48 of these innovative aircraft, comprising 22 A350-900s and 26 A350-1000s

Dec 2013 ISD flash mob surprised Cathay City staff

CX WORLD

Memory board

1. A WARM WELCOME: The France team organised a drink at the Town Office terrace on 30 August to farewell Selina Miao, who has been Country Manager for three years. Filling her shoes is former Manager International Affairs, Edward Coles-Gales. 2. SO LONG, 747: Inflight Service Manager Yvonne Lim pictured with her crew on the 747 – an aircraft Yvonne said she will miss! 3. SQUASHED UP: Director Sales & Marketing Dane Cheng with the winners of this year’s HK Squash Open – sponsored by Cathay for 31 consecutive years. As always, staff enjoyed a clinic with some of the top players. 4. GETTING TO KNOW YOU: Director Corporate Affairs Arnold Cheng enjoyed lunch with his new teams from CCD and ENV.

Passion for portraits using cameras from the past

We love Hong Kong

Geeking out

I like exploring the Sham Shui Po district. I’m interested in elec-tronics, and Golden Computer Arcade and Golden Computer Plaza have a selection of great products and photography equipment.

I also love the Canton-style noodles at the cha chaan tengs (local cafés) at the intersection of Kweilin and Fuk Wing streets. Off the beaten track, the Po Toi Islands are worth exploring. They’re the southernmost part of Hong Kong. I usually hike across the beautiful landscapes and scope out the special rock formations in the day and then camp overnight to go star-gazing and take photos of the night sky.

Ryan YeungSystems Specialist, Hong Kong

Meeting new people

Hong Kong is the gateway to the world. It’s so international, which means it’s easy to meet people.

On one of my last visits, I was on a ferry to one of Hong Kong’s outlying islands, and I got talking to a guy who worked for Macau airport. His story was amazing: he played in the Angolan football team before coming to Hong Kong.

That’s my feeling of the city – every-body’s always flying in and out. Hong Kong, there’s always an opportunity to start conversations.

Stefania Viola Airport Services Manager, Milan

Tranquility

I’m always looking for hidden parts of the city to photo-graph. One place I return to is the Chi Lin Nunnery and Nan Lian Garden in the Diamond Hill district. Here, there’s a traditional Chinese landscaped garden and intricate Buddhist temples next door to each other – and built-up city blocks and shopping malls all around, which makes an interesting contrast. I’m always struck by how peace-ful it is; sometimes you’ll have the place to yourself. And when you get hungry there’s a very good vegetarian Chinese restaurant hidden behind an artificial waterfall.

Raunak Kothari Systems Analyst, Hong Kong

Gastronomy

When I’m in Hong Kong, I like to eat steamed seafood: local restaurant Chiu Fook is especially good. The lobster was particularly memorable.

After you’ve eaten the meat, the shells are placed in a steamer, covered with a hat-shaped bamboo top, then in goes rice, which together with the lobster shells makes a kind of congee.

Then if I’m in Mong Kok, I go to Shooting Five, which sells basketball memorabilia including jerseys of all the NBA and NCAA teams, signed photos of Michael Jordan and his Chicago Bulls jerseys. It’s a place for basketball fans like me to really geek out.

Christine Letellier Pricing & Distribution Supervisor, Paris

TRAVEL

Our inflight magazine Discovery has already published our people’s travel stories in the September issue.

If you have a knack for writing or if you’re an avid photographer, write to PDTSYS with some samples of your work.

Your travel wisdom will be shared with our customers across the network to help them live a Life Well Travelled!

Be a Discovery contributor!

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