BY JENNY LEE, VANCOUVER SUN
As airline competition intensifies to meet growing demand for travel between Asia and North America, Cathay Pacific is focusing its Canadian operations on Vancouver and Toronto.
“The growth in seats from mainland China alone into Canada (during 2013) is about 70 per cent,” Cathay’s incoming chief operating officer Rupert Hogg told a Hong Kong-Canada Business Association luncheon on Tuesday.
Delta Air Lines is preparing to launch Seattle-to-Hong Kong flights, and last summer, China Eastern Airlines increased flights between Vancouver and Shanghai to twice daily.
“Our Canadian ambitions will be to increase frequency when the market merits it,” Hogg said. “We would love to be (twice) daily in Toronto, and we keep close watch on the Vancouver market.”
Cathay flies twice-daily non-stop Vancouver-Hong Kong, and 10 times a week between Toronto and Hong Kong. The airline employs 700 in Canada, 500 of whom are in Vancouver, which is also Cathay’s call centre for North America.
“Inevitably, more carriers will come into this market,” Hogg said. “Our strategy is very clear: We are a full-service carrier and we provide a premium product because we believe that people value that premium product. They are prepared to pay for it.
“Over the last two or three years, we’ve gone entirely to (Boeing) 777 services here, and every cabin in that aircraft is new. So if you take the economy cabin, where most people travel, we’re nine abreast (with) inflight entertainment in every seat. Many of our competitors are 10 abreast.”
As cities such as Guangzhou vie to become large international flight hubs, Hogg emphasized Hong Kong’s geographic advantage and the importance of Cathay Pacific’s (and its subsidiary, Dragonair’s) role as Hong Kong’s home-base carrier.
“Only a home-base carrier has the wherewithal to create the banks of incoming flights and make them connect to the banks of outgoing flights — once, twice or three times a day — and that’s what allows you to connect efficiently across a hub,” Hogg said.
This year, 30 million mainland Chinese are expected to travel by air.
Cathay is addressing the challenge of increasing fuel costs by rejuvenating its fleet of 180 aircraft. It has ordered 95 aircraft and taking possession of 15 to 16 new aircraft a year.
“Our fleet is rapidly becoming younger and rapidly becoming more fuel efficient, and that is the key way you have to address this issue. You have to invest in advance.”
Hogg, a longtime Cathay and Swire Group executive, has been Cathay’s director of sales and marketing since 2010 and will become COO in March.
“If you look at Cathay Pacific we have very long-term plans, and we have great continuity of management. All my colleagues, I’ve worked with for decades. So when a new man comes in, most of the challenge is making sure we keep running the ship as normal.”