Cathay Pacific

[ethanegcc]

Change in Manchester-Hong Kong Schedules

CX 358 MAN 1225 HKG 0705 +1 359 456
CX 358 MAN 1240 HKG 0720 +1 359 12

Later departure for S17 on Mondays and Tuesdays. Oh how I wish they would move it to 1300 so it would take-off on RWY23L!

 

[Dobbo]

CX to go daily in December. Finally!!!

 

[ethanegcc]

CX to go daily in December. Finally!!!

Before I get too excited. Source?

 

[Dobbo]

Have a look on Airlineroute Twitter...

 

[ethanegcc]

View attachment 4696Way over excited at this!

 

[Dobbo]

Some of the numbers (credit to MANFOD & Logohu of pprune):

• A daily A359 provides 1,960 seats a week each way, compared to 1,360 seats on the 4 x weekly B777 up to now, an increase of 44%. But a daily service is a real bonus.

• By my calculations that is 203,000 seats per year. If 80% loads are sustained (good reason to think they will exceed this) they will carry 163,000 passengers per year.

• The A359 has 172cu/m of belly capacity compared to 202cu/m for the 77W. So with a daily service, freight will be well catered for.

Where do they go from here if they need more capacity... Bring back the B77W? More than daily? Another good news day.

 

[ethanegcc]

44% increase in capacity over the course of May-December in one year is very impressive and another example of the widening disparity in product and frequency of east and west.

I would suggest that for further expansion, 9x weekly would be a good option, with A350 operating a flight departing say 1900 but the 777-300ER could be bought back on certain flights if necessary. The B77Ws are being changed to 3-4-3 also, so perhaps we have got off likely.

 

[Dobbo]

I find it hard to believe SQ, HU, the MEB3 (and any other new entrant) would sit back and let CX go 9,10+ weekly.

I suspect they would respond if they can, but in the current climate I'm not sure what to expect!

 

[Coathanger16]

Cathay are due to get A350-1000's in the next few years - these are about the same size as the 77W - perhaps a switch to these could be on the cards at some point?

Considering the likes of SQ, HU, MEB3 would likely do something to compete, I wouldn't expect anything major from CX beyond daily for a while.

 

[ethanegcc]

Neither can I, to be honest and we should be more than happy now that we have received daily service and it's benefits in this current climate? Will Hainan respond with the imminent daily service - I hope so!

 

[Dobbo]

I think @Coathanger16 is right, we are more likely to see at least one of HU, SQ add frequency before CX go more than daily. We may also see TG, but there has been radio silence on that for some time.

Starting to get a good cluster of far eastern services. Just over 2 years ago there were no direct, non-stop flights to the Far East. This time next year it is reasonable to expect in excess of 3 per day.

 

[ethanegcc]

Thai, realistically, should be announced around now for a October-December start.

Anyway, I may have cause to use the Cathay service for a connection to Japan next March - the price is good and Cathay seems a great airline. I would also love to support a long-haul service from MAN and would love to try the A350. Just wondering if anyone has experience of Cathay/transiting in HKG?

 

[ethanegcc]

Confirmation of daily from airlineroute:
http://www.routesonline.com/news/38...fic-further-expands-manchester-from-dec-2017/

CX357 HKG0110 – 0620MAN 359 D
CX358 MAN1155 – 0730+1HKG 359 D

 

[Seasider]

Thai, realistically, should be announced around now for a October-December start.

Anyway, I may have cause to use the Cathay service for a connection to Japan next March - the price is good and Cathay seems a great airline. I would also love to support a long-haul service from MAN and would love to try the A350. Just wondering if anyone has experience of Cathay/transiting in HKG?

I transitted HKG in Nov 2016 on the way to NZ. It was easy to transit, we had 4 hrs one way and 3hrs the other. What I will say is that I didn't rate CX premium economy at all. One of the legs (HKG-AKL) was with Air New Zealand and that was a far better product, seat, food and service. My only experience with CX, so make of it what you will.

 

[Dobbo]

I don't think I've seen this article before? Nothing too exciting but some quotes:

http://aviationtribune.com/airlines/asia/cathay-pacifics-manchester-service-go-daily-december/

 

[ethanegcc]

Quite a lot of discussion on the pprune thread about Cathay Pacific and feasibility of it going 9-10 weekly from Summer 2018. I think, given the current expansion and increase from 4 to 7 weekly in the space of 5 months, it could be an option. This could be especially attractive for Cathay to increase if Thai and Air China do not enter by this time - CX could sieze the opportunity to go more than daily and absorb more of the growing market, before another carrier is to enter (obviously I'd like Thai and Air China to be here by this time but my hopes are dwindling). Let's just look at how the timetable could look (utilising the other HKG departure/arrival bank)

HKG0110 – 0620MAN 359 D
HKG0950 - 1450MAN 359 16 (new flight)
MAN1155 – 0730+1HKG 359 D
MAN1955 - 1455+1HKG 359 16 (new flight)

The other option for expansion is that they use their new A350-1000 on the route, which is expected to become the main a/c for European routes or they reintroduce the 777 - however this is becoming more of a regional variant, becoming 3-4-3 in economy. The final option is (to increase convenience without going more than daily) is to split e.g. 4 weekly on the current schedule, 3 weekly on the evening departure?

This is the only way for growth now and if they were the carrier to break the daily barrier and be the airline to offer the only more than daily service to the far-east it would be amazing; attracting business class passengers and offering an equally convenient alternative to the MEB3.

 

[Land23R]

And good to see the flights going daily making the M.E.N.

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co...-news/cathay-pacific-start-new-daily-12859117

 

[Dobbo]

As AA (amongst others) get pesters for tardiness it is only fair that I highlight CX being extraordinarily late today.

Perhaps a tester for those late flights once daily "takes off" (tongue in cheek)...

 

[ethanegcc]

I wish I could go see it leave on 23R|!

 

[andyc941]

Cathay will go to A359s from 1st June 2017.Sorry if been reported before but i can't find one anywhere.
Credit to Alpha 5.