A magazine for staff and friends of Cathay Pacifi c Airways

Service stars shineRecognising the best of the best

news

Team undaunted by snow days

Spaced out in HoustonVisit to the heart of the space programme

travel

Winter’s icy blast

features

Running keeps Raymond focused

Marathon achievement

who, what, where

Page 11 Page 8-9 Page 14 Page 16

PRINTED ON 100% RECYCLED PAPER

PASSED THE TESTCutover goes according to plan, CX up and running with new reservations system

Flag fl ies high at Pedal Kart

February 2012, Issue 191

The point of no return for Phase 1 of the Passenger Services Systems (PSS) project came at 6.45am on 12 February.

After 28 checkpoints had been passed, senior management gave the nod to the PSS team.

Soon after, staff from Cathay Pacifi c and Dragonair were able to use the Altéa Reservation and Inventory platform for the fi rst time.

“This project is a massive one … almost certainly the most substantial IT project we have undertaken in the last 30 years,” Chief Executive John Slosar said.

“Getting us to this point took nearly fi ve years of eff ort both by the PSS and IMT teams and also by all of the business units who had to train for the new system. Recognition must be given for the fantastic eff ort across the airline that has enabled us to get here.”

It didn’t all stop with the cutover. The PSS and IMT teams worked hard to iron out the inevitable bugs, while an extensive support network was set up to ensure that Reser-vations & Ticketing and call centre teams

around the world could quickly get up to speed on the new system.

After the cutover, the Worldwide Reser-vations & Ticketing team was working 24/7 to support the increased call volume in the support centre.

“However, the teething problems are be-ing fi xed and the benefi ts from PSS, such as a more user-friendly system interface and the ability to change tickets and fares in-tuitively, are being welcomed by R&T teams worldwide,” said Mary Chan, WRT Manager.

Work on Phase 2 of PSS – the switch to a new departure control system – is already ongoing with the cutover planned for mid-2013.

• More on page 3

Spaced out

Visit to the heart of the space programme

travel

Page 14Page 11

A NEW WORLD: (Right) Hong Kong Offi ce staff try out the new system; (Top, from left) farewelling CUPID; senior managers at the Command Centre during cutover; Auckland was the fi rst outport to welcome the new system; and a PSS fl oorwalker at work at the Asia Miles Call Centre.

The CX teams emerged triumphant at the 2012 Pedal Grand Prix held at Victoria Park from 11-12 February, taking six trophies including the Overall Champion accolade.

The Cathay Jumbos (Men’s Team) was declared champion in the Open category with 949 laps. The men also picked up the Formula 2000 trophy, the Aviation Cup and the Fastest Lap award. The team is pictured left, along with Engineering Director Chris Gibbs and the Engineering trainees who helped organise the teams.

The Cathay Angels (Ladies Team) were also winners, lifting the women’s champion’s trophy with 778 laps.

The Cathay-NAAC E-cycle kart (right) which was designed and operated by a team of students from Tung Chung and supported by CX Volunteers, won the trophy for best novelty kart.

2

Produced by CX’s Corporate Communication Department

7/F North Tower, Cathay Paci� c City, Lantau, HK

Publisher: C K YeungManaging Editor: Mark Tindall

Editor: Joyce WongEnquiries: 2747-5293GalaCXy ID: CCD#SCT

Email: ccd#sct@cathaypaci� c.com

Direct sales on the riseRevamped online functions expected to entice even more customers Cathay Pacifi c’s strategy to put more focus on direct sales has been paying dividends.

The airline set its sights on driving up sales through direct channels – the CX website, Reservations & Ticketing (R&T) and corporate sales – as part of its fi rst round of strategy projects launched in 2008-9.

Things are moving according to plan and in 2011 tickets sold through the online channel recorded un-precedented year-on-year growth of 35%, accounting for almost 9% of the airline’s passenger sales.

R&T sales contributed 4% of the total passenger revenue in 2011, growing by 10% over the previous year.

Meanwhile, corporate sales climbed by 16.6% and accounted for 18.6% of total passenger revenue.

“We’re very pleased with what we achieved in 2011 and expect to see further improvements this year helped by factors such as the intro-duction of PSS and the revamp of our website,” says General Manager Sales & Distribution Clarence Tai.

“Selling direct is the way forward in terms of optimising the balance between revenue quality and the

Infl ight cellar is fi rst classCathay Pacifi c’s expertise in selecting the world’s fi nest wines for passen-gers was recognised at the annual Cellars in the Sky Awards (pictured left) held in London on 6 February.

CX won the Most Improved Business Class Cellar award as well as the Best First Class Fortifi ed Wine for the Ramos

Pinto 10 Years Quinta Da Ervamoira at the competi-tion, organised by Business Traveller magazine.

The Champagne Amour de Deutz 2002 was run-ner-up in the Best First Class Sparkling Wine cat-egory.

Manager Catering Services Charles Grossrieder says the awards acknowledge the skill and dedica-

tion of the airline’s wine experts. “We aim to provide passengers with a superior travel experi-

ence which includes off ering the chance to sample some of the world’s fi nest wines and matching these perfectly with the unique fl avours of our infl ight cuisine,” he says.

cost of sales – and it’s also increas-ingly what our customers want.”

For online sales, Clarence says that revamped online functional-ities coming later in the year “will further entice customers to utilise this high-potential channel”.

On the R&T side, sales reps will enjoy easier selling and servicing

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Survey makes crucial crew connection

The second Connect cabin crew survey will launch in February with the aim of � nding out how well CX is doing at meeting crew expectations since the previous survey in 2008.

As before, the survey will be designed and carried out by an external research agency, TNS, to ensure con� dentiality.

Cabin Crew Relations Manager Elaine Champion says the last survey had a 50% response rate and the team is hoping it will be even higher this time.

“In 2012, we will be focusing on key areas that crew said were important such as rostering, cabin environment, crew lifestyle and reward and recognition,” she says.

Elaine says the previous survey provided some important insight and the data was taken into careful consideration before changes were implemented where possible.

“Examples of the changes made as a result of the feedback include a review of the rostering schemes, outport hotels, crew meal improvements, Business Class duvets in crew bunks, service plan improvements and lifestyle matters such as introducing priority days o� and days o� on birthdays,” Elaine says.

“Several projects including the defect-free cabin initiative and the formation of the Cabin Quality Specialists as well as the cabin cleanliness initiative were greatly helped by the comments received from the previous survey,” she adds.

The survey will launch on 27 February and will last for one month.

Performance Index

51.2%

81.8%Within 15 mins

Industry standard

on-the-dot CX standard

On-time performanceFuel price - Rolling 6 Months

Aug/11 Feb/12

USD per Barrel

Sing Jet Kerosene150

140

130

120

110

100

90

ICE Brent

Passengers carried 2,511,043 11.9%

Passenger load factor 81.9% 0.6pt

ASKs (000) 11,431,203 8.7%

Freight carried 116,250 -19.5%

Cargo load factor 59.9% -7.9pt

ATKs (000) 2,208,854 0.2%* Figures for Jan12

Traffi c/capacity (CX + KA)*

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FINE FLOW: Charles Grossrieder and Catering Man-ager Wine, Beverage & Catering Supplies Clara Yip with the two wines honoured at the awards.

DIRECT DRIVE: Clarence Tai (centre) and other managers at a recent monthly direct sales review meeting.

following the introduction of the new reservations system, while Clarence’s team is actively reviewing how call centres are operated in a bid to optimise effi ciency and costs.

The focus for corporate sales is to capture new industry segments and markets as well as developing new initiatives such as developing a cor-

porate-exclusive online sales portal.“Corporate sales had a soft land-

ing in the last quarter of 2011 and clients are more cautious at the mo-ment, but we are fortunate to be in the right location because business-people are still fl ying into China,” Clarence says.

ONLINE SALES Bahrain (17.72%) Singapore (17.27%) Russia (17.22%)

R&T SALES Russia (15.01%) Vietnam (14.36%) Pakistan (14.18%))

CORPORATE SALES USA (31.58%) Hong Kong (30.93%) Germany (23.49%)

Figures shown are as percentage of total passenger sales in the ports listedTHE TOP SELLERS IN 2011

Teams work round the clock to ensure a smooth migrationMonths of planning and rehearsals came to a head on the weekend of 11-12 February when the long-awaited PSS cutover went full steam ahead.

Five years in the planning, the last step saw CX and KA complete the migration of data to the new Altéa Reservation and Inventory system.

More than 60 PSS team members staff ed seven key roles in the Command Centre around the clock including coordinating with the outports, proving triage support, analysing issues and communicating both internally and externally.

3

Update from the Chief ExecutiveAfter fi ve years of meticulous planning, a deferred start and a great deal of hard work from hundreds of people, we now have a new reservations system for Cathay Pacifi c and Dragonair. Not to mention a new staff travel system too!

This was a very big deal indeed for our airline. It was certainly something that needed to be done – the old CUPID system could no longer meet the needs of a growing and increasingly sophisticated operation – and it was always going to be a massive undertaking.

All the hard work that went into developing PSS, working with system supplier Amadeus, came to fruition on the weekend of 11-12 February. We were quietly confi dent that the cutover would go

smoothly, but I know a few hearts were fl uttering as the last checks were conducted and we reached the point of no return: to press the button and move our entire reservations and inventory system over to the Altéa platform.

We were very aware that things could have gone wrong – and of the negative impact that would have had on our passengers and reputation – but in the end it all came good. This didn’t happen by acci-dent. It was down to hard work, diligence and great teamwork, and my heartfelt thanks go to everyone who worked so hard to make it a reality.

PSS is not over yet, of course – work on Phase 2, for the new departure control system, will now go full steam ahead – but we can we can pleased with

the great eff ort that got us to this point. As soon as PSS launched we began selling seats

on our new Premium Economy product. This is an-other huge project, with 87 of our long-haul aircraft getting the new cabin – and our new long-haul Economy Class seats – by the end of next year.

The cabins have already been fi tted into two new aircraft that will be delivered later this month. I’m confi dent the product will make a big impact in the market because our Premium Economy is not just about a bigger seat and increased pitch – it will be an all-encompassing travel experience that off ers something new and exciting to passengers.

John Slosar

Business Liaison Manager Ella Yim was the central contact point throughout the cutover.

Busiest time: 09:00 to 10:00 on Monday. “It was when most of the sta� were back in the o� ce.”

Biggest challenge: “Making sure the sta� got the right information at the right time, and managing several requests at the same time. We had more 20 departments asking questions and we needed to ensure we were getting the most up-to-date information for them.”

PSS CUTOVER TIMELINE

1. Business Liaison Manager Alyson Rosser reviews status reports from Reservation & Ticketing offi ces around the world.

2. Command Centre Manager Sonja Nigmann with Cutover Window Plan Managers Tor Yem (back) and Lawrence Lee analysing the progress of tasks in the Cutover Window Plan.

3. Triage Managers Shannon Curley and John Gately handling the appointment of relevant analysts to resolve an issue raised by an outport.

4. Command Centre Manager Sonja Nigmann in discussions with PSS General Manager Richard Reed.

Triage Manager Alex Wu has been on the PSS project for two years and was previously in the role of Solution Architect Lead for Cathay Paci� c.

Busiest time: 08:00 to 09:00 on Sunday. “It was after we came out of the outage when outports were coming online using the new system in a live environment.”

Biggest challenge: “Being inundated with a large number of issues at once and to methodically manage them without panicking.

“I focused on determining whether the problem was technical or was due to the user’s understanding of how to use the system.”

Cutover Window Plan Manager Lawrence Lee has been with the project from the beginning and was responsible for managing the cutover.

Busiest time: 05:00 to 06:00 on Sunday. “Approaching the end of the outage window when business validation was taking place, reports were being generated and meetings were held to decide to come out of the outage.”

Biggest challenge: “We had 300 activities running in parallel during the night. We had to track the activities and, when a task was not completed at the scheduled time, we had to � nd out why and analyse the impact.”

1 2 3 4 Fast facts• Meals taken - 400• Number of people rostered at

the Command Centre - 280• Number of shifts - 7• Hours worked – 1,960• Nespresso capsules used - 142• Tubes of Pringles consumed - 36• Checkpoints - 30

Saturday 11 February

09:30 – All hands were on deck as the � rst shift arrived at the CX Command Centre in Cathay City. The Command Centre is where all cutover activities were managed and was the key point of information � ow throughout the event.15:00 – The Cathay Paci� c and Dragonair websites were shut down.16:00 – PSS Coordinators at outports completed their pre-outage checklists to ensure there was little disruption to their operations during the outage. 17:30 – All outports provided status updates and con� rmed they were ready for the outage.18:10 – Con� rmation that all preparation activities were successfully completed and ready for the start of the outage. 19:00 – The � nal migration of PNR (passenger name record) and e-ticket data into the new system started and all external links to CUPID were disconnected. The system outage began.23:05 – Checkpoint 26 passed with con� rmation of the quality of the data received during � nal migration. Numerous checkpoint meetings were held with PSS and CX senior managers throughout to assess the progress of cutover activities.

Sunday 12 February

01:00 – Business Checkout activities began with CX sta� performing typical business activities on core applications to ensure the new system was working correctly before the end of the outage.06:45 – Checkpoint 28 and the “point of no return” passed. 08:05 – The outage ended and the new Altéa Reservation and Inventory system was up and running. 08:10 – Throughout the day, sta� around the network performed business validation tasks to ensure that the new system was working as it should.09:00 – The Command Centre continued to closely monitor business operations to respond to any issues that arose.11:00 – Websites were back up and running as normal. 22:00 – All outports have reported in their status and the system was ready for the start of the working week.

Historic momentas cuts over

4

Six more A350s placed on orderOrder book will stand at 97 after three more deliveries this monthThe number of A350-900s on order has swollen to 38 following an additional pur-chase announced on 20 January.

In a notice to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, CX said it would buy another six of the new aircraft type from Airbus.

The planes, which are scheduled for delivery in 2015 and 2016, have a book value of around HK$12.7 bil-lion but the announcement said that CX has been granted “signifi cant price concessions” by the manu-facturer.

The six aircraft will be deployed primarily on European routes.

With the additional order, Cathay Pacifi c has a total of 97 aircraft on order for delivery up to 2019.

That number will see a drop in Febru-ary with three new aircraft arriving in the month.

One Boeing 747-8F is scheduled to arrive later in February. On the passenger side, an A330-300 will depart Toulouse on 24 Febru-ary, and a Boeing 777-300ER leaves Seattle on 25 February.

A lot of attention will be focused on the latter two deliveries which will both feature a three-class confi guration with the new Premium Economy Class cabin and the new long-haul Economy Class seats.

Alliance faces up to challengesoneworld CEO Bruce Ashby said that people shouldn’t lose sight of many positive devel-opments happening in the alliance, despite some recent setbacks.

Bruce was speaking in a message to staff of member airlines following a “challenging day” on 3 February when Malév Hungarian Air-lines announced that it was ceasing operations, while oneworld an-nounced that Kingfi sher Air-lines would put its entry to the alliance on hold.

“The airline industry of-ten provides us with chal-lenges, but we are con-vinced that oneworld’s strong business funda-mentals and strong part-nerships will continue to posi-tion our alliance strongly into the future,” Bruce said.

He pointed to a number of positive devel-opments including Air Berlin’s confi rmation of a 20 March date to join oneworld and the strong profi ts reported in recent weeks by a number of member airlines.

Malév, which joined oneworld in 2007, took the step to suspend its operations until further notice due to an “untenable” fi nan-

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What is the main part of your job? I am responsible for ensuring that all outport line maintenance activities are conducted in com-pliance with CX and Hong Kong regulations to meet or exceed the safety and technical standards required to dispatch aircraft. In 2011 we will manage 82,000 tran-sits for CX/KA across 88 outports.

In addition to the CX/KA operation, Line Maintenance Management is also responsible for managing third-party line maintenance business for other operators which came to 29,000 transits in 2011.

What is your training and background? I completed a four year appren-ticeship with Qantas in 1998 and in February 1999 became a part-time mechanic with CX in Sydney. I was promoted to an engineer’s role in 2004 before being o� ered the Engineering Manager posi-tion in Dubai in 2007.

In 2009 an opportunity came up to join the Hong Kong team and I took up this role in Septem-ber last year.

What do you like best about your job? Being part of the world’s best line maintenance operation – we have great people in our teams that day in, day out adjust their private lives to ensure that the ever changing operational needs of the airline are met.

The teams in the outports that handle aircraft movements, recov-eries and engine changes are as good, if not better, than any other airline.

What is the most challeng-ing part of your job and how do you tackle it? Staying ahead of the game and making sure we have the structure in place to support the airline.

In 2000 we were managing approximately 65 aircraft. Today we are at 160 and it it has become clear that we need to put a more robust structure in place that relies more on policies, processes and procedures and less on individuals.

There will be multiple projects that come from a department re-view but two that have started are the introduction of a new opera-tions manual and a LM website.

WHAT I DO

NEW BUYS: The latest six A350-900s on order are expected to be deployed mainly on European routes.

cial position. This followed a recent decision by the European Commission requiring the carrier to repay government loans ruled as contravening state aid regulations and after being placed under special government su-pervision.

oneworld airlines quickly outlined the steps they were taking to assist cus-

tomers aff ected by the Malév suspension.

Kingfi sher Airlines’ imple-mentation into oneworld was originally scheduled for 10 February but it was agreed to put the airline’s

entry on hold to give it time to strengthen its fi nancial

position. “We wish Kingfi sher well dur-

ing the process of resolving its fi -nancial issues and will aim to set a new

joining date once it is through this current diffi cult period,” Bruce said.

Meanwhile, another member elect, Malay-sia Airlines, has begun participating in the oneworld Global Explorer round-the-world fare – a move that represents a fi rst step to-wards the carrier’s implementation into the alliance, which is on track for later this year.

Keep an eye out for the launch of the WeSuggest! 2012 Special Edition which will ask sta� for ideas on how Cathay Paci� c and Dragonair can make a positive contribution to the environment or the communities the airlines � y to.

From � nding another way to use old aircraft tyres and discarded wines bottles in the Chinese New Year parade � oat to using eco-friendly paper for Discovery magazine – the best ideas come from sta� across the network.

The WeSuggest! team is asking sta� to develop similar creative ideas with a CSR theme to take part in the 2012 programme. More information can be found on IntraCX.

The 2011 programme is also coming to an end with the winning team being announced by the end of February.

Make a difference with WeSuggest! contest

Adam Nelson, Manager Line Main-tenance

5

Going greenCX sponsored three staff teams for this year’s Green Power Hike on 14 January.

The annual charity activity is used to raise money for environmental education in Hong Kong.

The company donated the entry fee of HK$36,000 for the 12 staff participants who hit various sections of the Hong Kong Trail during the event. Staff have taken part in the Green

Power Hike’s 25km and 50km races since 2005.

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■ New passenger recordsBoth Cathay Paci� c and Dragonair set new passenger records over the � nal days of the Chinese New Year holiday, assisted by returning holiday tra� c and a signi� cant expansion in ASKs.

CX carried 69,401 passengers on 28 January while KA carried 26,776 on the same day. The combined total of 96,177 was also a new high.

KA broke its record again the following day with 27,181 pas-sengers carried.

Meanwhile, Cathay Paci� c Catering Services achieved a new record of 89,704 meals for 192 passenger � ights on 21 January, besting the previous record of 83,591 meals on 1 October last year.

■ ‘I Can Fly’ on trackMore than 1,700 young Hong Kong people applied to take part in the latest “I Can Fly” pro-gramme.

Applications closed on 13 Janu-ary and a CX panel is now whit-tling them down to select the 100 teenagers who will take part.

The kick-o� ceremony for the 2011-12 “I Can Fly” will be held on 17 March.

■ Natasha’s a winnerHong Kong para-equestrian Natasha Tse (above) made history in Spain last month when she won the Grade 1 Individual Champion-ship Test at the CPEDI3 Sant Marti Vell in Girona, Spain.

Natasha, who su� ers from cer-ebral palsy, is the daughter of CX In� ight Service Manager Gail Siah.

Her performance riding Red Dawn put her ahead of other top international competitors and she has now attained the minimum eligibility standard required to participate in this year’s London Paralympic Games Equestrian Events 2012.

Briefs

CX has added

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Renovated fl agship lounge has been given added sophistication

Let there be light!The Level 7 Business Class section of The Wing at Hong Kong International Airport reopened to passengers on 31 January with a lighter, airier feel to the 1,935 square-metre space.

Upgrades included more seats in the Noodle Bar, a new café space called the Coff ee Loft and the inclusion of Chinese-style buns on the menu.

London-based architects Foster + Partners were behind the makeover, which included opening up larger sections of the ceiling to allow more sunlight, and using live bamboo deco-rations, and more designer furniture for added sophistication.

“Comments so far have been very positive,” says Product Manager Ground Melody Keung.

“The open ceiling, expanded menu and the variety of seating on off er have all received praise.”

The Product team says it will continue to improve the facility.

The First Class section of the lounge will be closed shortly for renovation with the refurbishment scheduled for completion by the fourth quarter of 2012.

new audio books to the StudioCX selection

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Hong Kong airport expands Hub Operations teamThe Station Control functions for Cathay Pacifi c and Dragonair were integrated into one offi ce from the end of January with Hub Operations, made up of the Station Control and Flight Control teams, expanding to cope.

General Manager HKIA Paul Loo says that having the same set of cor-porate policies, procedures, guiding parameters and principles for the two airlines will “enhance opera-tional consistency, improve service quality and ultimately bring us to a robust super hub.”

Hub Operation Manager Judy Leung says three Assistant Manag-ers and nine Supervisors were hired to handle Dragonair fl ights and ac-tivities in the Station Control team.

“With this extended workforce, Station Control will become a single party to respond to emergency and disruption matters,” says Judy.

“It will also mean one control and decision body to liaise with the au-thorities and external and internal parties regarding operational re-sources.

“There is one command offi ce to improve communications and maintain consistency and effi ciency for better connectivity,” she adds.

Service Leaders have also been added to the Flight Control team to provide support. They have experi-ence in fl ight management and will act as liaisons between the Assistant Managers Hub Operation, Supervi-sors and Flight Controllers. INTEGRATED APPROACH: One team at Station Control for CX and KA.

MAKEOVER: A lighter and bright-er feel can be felt throughout the lounge.

“The open ceiling, expanded

shortly for renovation with the refurbishment scheduled for completion by the fourth

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Hong Kong airport expands Hub Operations team

Service withheart Letters to the Editor

being done at the right place and the right time; repackaging of all scheduled Line Maintenance tasks into smaller repeatable packages to ensure consistency; reorganis-ing HAECO manpower support for eff ective maintenance; and establishing a CX main-tenance standards oversight team to assure maintenance intentions are met.

In the longer-term, we are investing HK$190 billion at list prices in new aircraft to progressively replace our 21 Boeing 747 passenger aircraft with B777-300ERs and Airbus A350s, with all the older aircraft leaving the fl eet by 2017.

Screen saver wantedMy email account has migrated from Group-wise to Outlook and I noticed that Outlook does not require staff to sign in twice as it uses the same password as the computer.

But I also noticed that the screen saver function is disabled in every workstation except when you make a request to enable this function via the IMT service team.

If we unintentionally leave our desktop/laptop without logging-off IntraCX, then everyone can access your Outlook account.

In order to ensure the security of our email system, may I ask whether staff can retain the screen saver function as a default setting?

Name withheld

Gary Dashwood, IM Head, Service & Op-erations, replies: The CX IT Security Policy requires a screen saver with a user password to be activated on the PC after a 15-minute period of no activity.

Any user who notices their PC screen saver is not activated during this time is

requested to contact the IMT Service Centre on 2747-3883 to raise an incident to have this is-sue fi xed.

User application authentication is being streamlined via a new single sign-on sys-tem. This will allow users to use their primary GalaCXy ID to authenticate them to authorised applications by only entering one password.

The single sign-on solution has been enabled for mail users and will be used by other applica-tions in the future.

Offensive clothing I am a CX outport staff and I was quite shocked while visiting Cathay City to see two incidents of T-shirts which had off ensive words and drawings.

One had a four letter word displayed in Eng-lish – it was correctly spelt and was defi nitely not the well-known fashion label.

The other T-shirt showed a drawing of a cou-ple engaged in an intimate position with an of-fensive comment.

Do these people not know that this type of clothing is totally inappropriate for a work envi-ronment? Is there a dress code for Cathay City?

Name withheld

Albert Wong, General Manager Personnel, replies: There is indeed there is a dress code for those working in Cathay City which is available on IntraCX.

It states: “Attire worn to the offi ce should be neat, clean, comfortable and conservative and appropriate to a business environment.

“For example frayed or torn clothing is not acceptable even if termed “designer”. More specifi cally, for gentlemen it will mean that collared shirts and trousers are the minimal acceptable standard.

“For ladies, appropriate business attire is expected and extremes of fashion are not encouraged.

Safety record maintainedRecently, there have been numerous inci-dents concerning the safety of our Boeing 747-400 and A330 aircraft.

As safety has always been our number one priority, what is being done to address these issues?

CX’s reputation has always been based on the sound safety record of our airline. Therefore, it is vital that we fi nd out the root cause of these problems and address them to prevent any further damage to our brand and reputation, and to protect the interests of our crew and staff as well as the general travelling public.

Name withheld

Steve Chadwick, General Manager En-gineering Technical, replies: Thank you for your letter and the concerns you have raised.

The safety of passengers and crew will al-ways be CX’s greatest priority.

The airline has a strict maintenance pro-gramme, overseen by the regulatory au-thorities, which goes beyond manufacturers’ requirements. Every engineering incident is reviewed so this maintenance regime can constantly be improved.

The Boeing 747-400s have a long record of reliable service and actually technical problems which caused long disruptive de-lays were down 29% in 2011 compared with 2010.

It is necessary to look at the reported inci-dents in context as they have been isolated and unrelated to each other.

Several mitigations are now taking place including systematically shifting the main-tenance burden from Line Maintenance to Base Maintenance to ensure the work is ■

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Send us your feedbackWe welcome feedback from anyone in the CX network on any issue a� ecting the airline or the industry. Please email your letters to CCD#SCT. Not all letters will be published but those that are will be edited for length and to comply with the CX World style.

The sender of the star letter each month will win 3,000 Asia Miles. The Feedback page is sponsored by Asia’s leading travel reward programme.

6

Star letter

London Passenger Services Offi cer Nish Vithana was praised for the help he gave when a passenger left belongings behind in the overhead locker.“I would like to wholeheartedly thank Passenger Services Offi cer Nish Vithana for the help he gave my mother and myself last year.

We were on CX251 from Hong Kong and had another fl ight to Edinburgh to catch in a short period of time.

Tired from the long fl ight, we forgot that a suitcase containing two laptop computers was in the overhead compart-ment and only realised the loss when we were through check out at Heathrow.

We were told by airport staff that our options were to report the lost property after our Edinburgh fl ight, or miss the fl ight to look for the suitcase.

We then received a call from Nish who had found a business card inside the suitcase.

He then travelled all the way to Terminal 3 at Heathrow Airport which was quite a distance, and brought the suitcase to us in time for us to catch the fl ight to Edinburgh.

He stayed in touch to make sure he could fi nd us in the terminal and the laptops and cash were all intact when we received them.

He was trustworthy and reliable and demonstrated the qualities of good cus-tomer service.

Nish did an excellent job in represent-ing the image of Cathay Pacifi c.”

of their tickets so, if needed, they can be passed to the airport check-in teams for verifi cation. We will be asking iJourney us-ers to do the same.

The e-ticket with listing/booking de-tails in iJourney will be emailed to the traveller and can then be displayed on a smartphone, iPad or a BlackBerry. If the traveller does not have any of these de-vices then a printout is necessary for a ticketing/listing/booking record.

Elizabeth Li, Cabin Crew Administration Manager, adds: Two computers with printers have been made available for cabin crew to print out their e-tickets.

More information is available on the cabin crew website on IntraCX and in the Cabin Crew Newsletter.

letter

of their tickets so, if needed, they can be of their tickets so, if needed, they can be passed to the airport check-in teams for

Print services are neededAs a single staff living alone in Hong Kong, I have some concerns about the new staff travel system.

When CX changes to e-tickets, I will not be able to print them out as I do not have easy access to a printer.

The last time I was preparing e-tickets for a trip, I had to ask the travel desk staff to print them out for me. One of them told me that once the new system starts, I need to have a printer at home.

I think the majority of single staff don’t have a personal printer and buying one just to print out e-tickets doesn’t make sense.

Could the company provide a proper way to print out these e-tickets?

Jung Hee Cho, ISD

Bob Nipperess, Employee Services Man-ager, replies: With the launch of iJourney on 12 February, we usher in a new world of convenience with environmentally friendly e-ticketing for travel.

E-tickets are not new and we’ve been us-ing them on a number of carriers for some years. Staff are used to carrying details

“Please extend my sincere thanks to Customer Service Offi cers Virginia Chieng and Kelly Yau who were work-ing at the First Class lounge at Hong Kong International Airport when I had to rearrange my fl ights.

They were both very helpful and excellent in helping with the rearrange-ments, including retrieving my luggage and arranging my fl ights. They were very fast and effi cient and offered warm service throughout.”

Two staff working in the lounge in Hong Kong helped a passenger rearrange her travel plans.

“Staff or guests staying at Headland Hotel who enter the main Cathay City building should observe the above standards unless only using the Dakota’s Leisure Centre facilities.”

From your letter, it was not clear whether the T-shirts were worn by staff or visitors, but we do ask staff to be mindful of their appearance and to dress appropriately; and for visitors to also adhere to the general principles mentioned above.

More meals for long haul? I was on a 16-hour Hong Kong-New York fl ight with my family and I would like to off er my heartfelt gratitude to all the CX staff , from the counter staff to catering to cabin crew, who took great care of my baby daughter. The fl ight and service was excellent and the only issue I had was about the food.

On the Hong Kong-New York sector, meals were provided just after takeoff and just prior to landing. For the remainder of the fl ight we had to survive on snacks.

I feel that the snack time was too long, and I was just wondering if the number of meals could be increased from two to three for such extra-long fl ights.

I understand there are galley limitations, so if that is not possible, then maybe CX should think about increasing the amount/variety of snacks being off ered.

Name withheld

Brendan Duff y, Catering Manager Planning & Concept Design, replies: Currently we have two diff erent meal structures on long-haul fl ights depending on the time of departure.

Flights departing before noon have a meal service after departure and another one mid-way through the fl ight. Snack bags are also dis-tributed to every passenger during the fl ight.

Flights departing after noon have a meal ser-vice after departure, a galley snack selection throughout the fl ight and a meal service before arrival.

The ISD Catering & Standards teams will review the meal service structure, including snacks, on the longer haul fl ights in February to see if our current structures are sound in provid-ing timely meal services to passengers. We will communicate any changes once the review has been completed.

Unfortunately, a third meal service is not pos-sible as galley space is fully utilised with the cur-rent two-and-a-half meal services.

Letters to the Editor

7

Flying coupleKA PEOPLE

Towards the end of 2011, the Dragonair team in Kunming gave 188 impoverished schoolchildren the New Year presents they had been hoping for – playground equipment and 200 sets of stationery.

Setting out from Kunming City on 7 December, Manager Kunming Matthew Bowden and his team travelled for three hours to arrive at Pulahe Elementary School, a rural schoolyard wedged in a pass in the mountainous region of Guishan, Shilin County, Yunnan.

The campus is small and underequipped. Because of its inaccessi-bility, some students are only able to return home once a week.

“The visit was extremely rewarding,” says Matthew. “Not only did we have the humbling experience of seeing one of the many villages which are being sidetracked and left behind by China’s much-vaunted economic development, we were also able to off er some degree of assistance to schoolchildren in need of a playground.”

On the day of their visit, Matthew and his team also taught the school’s Grade Four students how to introduce themselves and greet people in English.

“The kids displayed so much enthusiasm and energy, as well as a real ability to learn rapidly,” says Matthew. “A memorable moment for us all was watching the children at the school queuing up to use the new playground equipment we had installed,” he adds.

Having one pilot in the family is challenging enough. The industry is volatile, plus there is the stress of working anti-social hours and frequently being away from home.

In the Taylor household the stress is twofold, as both husband and wife � y for a living.

Dragonair pilots Peter and Sarah Taylor are married and have three young children. Peter is currently a Captain and Flying Training Man-ager on A330s, while Sarah is a First O� cer on A320s.

They say the key to a rich family life is good organisation.“We plan far ahead by identifying times when we can go on holi-

day, for example,” Peter says. “And with the roster system, we can try to spend weekends and evenings together.”

A shared love of � ying brought Peter and Sarah together. The two met at � ight school in the UK in 1989 and married in 1995.

Peter joined his university air squadron and went to � ight school with his private pilot licence under his arm. Sarah gained her private pilot licence by pursuing � ying in her spare time after graduation.

Both Peter and Sarah worked for a British airline after qualifying, but were both made redundant. Sarah was born and bred in Hong Kong, while Peter worked for CX brie� y – so Dragonair was the natural choice when they decided to try new pastures in 1994.

Peter and Sarah were pilots for years but have only � own together once. “It was on my last � ight as an A320 captain,” Peter says.

Team makes children smile

The makeover of Dragonair’s decade-old uniform is well underway. The new uniform is designed by Hong Kong fashion designer Eddie Lau, who was also responsible for up-dating Cathay Pacifi c’s uniforms in 2011.

KA’s new uniforms will refl ect the airline’s professionalism while attuning to its sister airline Cathay Pacifi c.

Dragonair CEO Patrick Yeung says the new uniform will project the KA image—simple, young, elegant and professional.

A staff survey on the current uniform was

conducted last October. Overall, more than half of respondents felt that it was time to update Dragonair’s uniform. New uniform prototypes were presented by the designer in December 2011, and a few uniform de-signs were shortlisted.

“The staff survey conducted last year showed that the new uniform should re-tain two key elements – one-piece dress and dark colour,” says Jenny Ho, Manager, KA Uniform Project.

“We will conduct MPO focus groups in

Uniform makeover now underway both Hong Kong and Shanghai in Febru-ary to collect more feedback on the short-listed designs,” says Jenny. “Meanwhile, we are sourcing a technical consultant com-pany whose role will be to transform the design concept into the uniform.”

Eddie Lau will refi ne the designs and present them the airline again by the end of March. Formal wearer trials will be con-ducted in the fourth quarter of 2012 to confi rm whether the new uniform is well-suited for everyday wear.

FRESH LOOK: The Dragonair uniform has undergone several design changes throughout the years.

When CX World visited Anchorage in late Janu-ary it was a relatively mild two degrees below zero Celsius (28°F)and the sky was deep blue.

Winter really bared its teeth just a few days later with a blizzard sweeping across Ted Ste-vens Anchorage International Airport and tem-peratures plunging to -12°C.

The 17 staff working in ANC – 11 in the Car-go team and six from Engineering – take such weather extremes in their stride as they work around the clock, 365 days a year.

The teams have worked in temperatures as low as -30°C with the wind chill factor taking it down to -40°C.

“We just put on extra clothing and keep the vehicles running all the time … you learn to deal with the cold and be prepared for it,” says Kevin Miller, Cargo Manager Anchorage.

Winter in Anchorage usually starts in Oc-tober and lasts until mid-April, with sub-zero temperatures the norm.

This winter has seen below-zero tempera-tures for three months and January was the lowest average temperature ever recorded.

Snowfall in the Anchorages area averages 77 inches but this season looks on track to break the record of 132 inches for the season.

The Anchorage team is kept on its toes deal-ing with anywhere between 60 and 70 fl ights a week, rising to almost 80 in peak years.

The recent airfreight slump has resulted in more cancelled services, but ANC is still the second-busiest cargo port in the network.

Such a big operation brings its fair share of challenges, including manpower issues.

“The biggest issues arise when we have mul-tiple aircraft on the ground at the same time but just a couple of staff on roster,” says Kevin.

“If something goes wrong, such as a techni-cal problem, it throws a spanner in the works, so the ability to multitask is a must because

handling requires quick responses to last-min-ute changes.”

Winter brings its own challenges, says Kevin. “Not only does the cold make everything move slower, but it aff ects visibility and increases overweight conditions. Snow contamination on runways is a big problem especially if air-craft are already at maximum weight.

Not to mention de-icing challenges. “After de-icing there is only a short window to get the aircraft airborne – if they miss they will need to come back to the gate to get de-iced again, which could aff ect crew duty times,” he explains.

Kevin says the airport authority in Anchor-age does a great job keeping its huge fl eet of snow ploughs moving to keep runways in service. “They have won numerous awards for their ability to keep the airport operational,” he says.

When asked what’s best about working in ANC, Kevin responds “the teamwork”.

The worst thing is the long winters, “but the long summer days are worth the wait, and it’s nice to drive with the top down at midnight with your sunglasses on!”

10

Hong Kong enters the dragon in style

FTC prepares for new simsNew arrivals will provide greater training capability as the fl eet growsTwo more new fl ight simulators are due to arrive in 2012 as Cathay Pacifi c continues to grow its fl eet and train more pilots.

The fi rst arrival will be a Boeing 747-8F simulator delivered from CAE’s Montreal fac-tory in early May.

Installation into the Flight Training Centre (FTC) will take approximately two-and-a-half months and the sim is expected to be Ready For Training (RFT) by late July.

The next to arrive will be a Boeing 777-300ER – the airline’s third 777 simulator – which will be RFT in November.

With the two new deliveries, valued at ap-proximately US$15 million each, the FTC will have 12 sims in place, though one – the 747-200/300 – will be retired later this year.

“The FTC is one of the busiest training fa-cilities in the world, operating 24-7, 365 days a year, and that will continue even after we

get the new sims this year,” says Manager Simulator Training Chris O’Dea.

“With four 747–8Fs due to arrive in 2012 we’ll be working hard to get more 747 pi-lots through their diff erence training – at the moment we’re using a very limited Inte-grated Procedures Trainer already installed in the FTC,” says Chris.

The 777-300ER and 777-200/300 sims are already working fl at out and the new arrival will provide more training capability as that fl eet grows.

“Currently we are planning to send some 777 pilots through the Boeing training facil-ity in Singapore until the third 777 sim is RFT which obviously is not ideal,” says Chris.

The next major development for the FTC will be the delivery of two A350 simulators in advance of the new aircraft type arriving in the fl eet.

Le Le the face of Asia MilesUniversity student Wang Le Le (pictured be-low) has been chosen as the Asia Miles Am-bassador in Mainland China after a country-wide online search.

Last October, Mainland China-based members were invited to choose from one of eight Asia Miles themed templates – created by renowned illustrator Dorothy Tang and other famous artists – and then upload and incorporate their own picture into the frame via a special minisite.

The photos were then voted on by visitors and three photos were shortlisted before a panel of judges made the fi nal decision.

“We were looking for someone who em-bodies the lively, fun and exciting personali-ty of the travel reward programme,” says Asia

Miles Marketing & Communications Manager Grace Poon.

“Le Le will now be representing us in vari-ous advertising campaigns.”

Le Le, 22, is studying Broadcasting and Hosting at Shangdong Normal University, and Grace says the judges were attracted by her outgoing personality and cheerful smile.

“There were more than 230 photo entries which attracted more than 10,000 votes dur-ing the six-week campaign,” Grace says.

“We were very pleased with the response as we saw more than 800,000 visits to the minisite,” she adds.

As well as winning 80,000 Asia Miles, Le Le will be featured in a three-page edito-rial which will appear in Cosmopolitan, Marie

Claire and Rayli Lady later in the year.

Throughout 2012, staff will see Le Le’s face in Asia Miles mar-keting campaigns on the Mainland, including a trav-elogue which will illustrate the earning and re-deeming oppor-tunities available in Hong Kong for Mainland China-based members.

INTERIM MEASURE: Pilots are using the Integrated Procedures Trainer until the Dash 8 sim arrives.

11

Staff honoured at service awardsHoning service skills is a day-to-day task for winnersIt was another rewarding year for CX at the annual Customer Service Excellence Awards organised by the Hong Kong Association for Custom-er Service Excellence (HKACE), with staff walking away with four awards on 2 February.

Customer Services Offi cer Helen Tsang and Infl ight Service Manager

Sweet White won gold awards for Counter Service and Internal Sup-port Service, respectively.

Flight Purser Victor Lee won a bronze award in the Field and Spe-cial Service category, while HKIA’s Manpower Planning and Deploy-ment Team (Rostering Team) took the silver in the Internal Support

Hong Kong enters the dragon in style

■ Fuel surcharge downHong Kong Civil Aviation De-partment-approved passenger fuel surcharges for February were down compared to the previous month.

The surcharge for short-haul services has been reduced to HK$215 while long-haul is at HK$988.

■ New high for infl ight sales In� ight sales reached a peak in December with year-on-year growth of 6.5% to set a new monthly record. The previous record was set in October last year.

2011 was a very successful year for the team, with sales growing by 14.1% over 2010.

■ Indian recruitmentThe In� ight Services Department is recruiting new � ight attend-ants from India to meet the airline’s needs as it continues to expand.

Advertisements were placed in Mumbai and more than 2,000 shortlisted candidates of Indian nationality, over 18 years and � uent in Hindi and English, will be invited to interview sessions in February.

Successful applicants will be trained and based in Hong Kong.

■ New US Sales Director appointedSebastien Granier has been ap-pointed as Sales Director Eastern USA with responsibility for man-aging the East Coast including New York, Washington DC and Atlanta. Sebastien will be based in New York City.

Briefs

The fi rst book written by CX pilots will have its

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reprint in 2012.

CX and KA passengers are closer to seamless travel with the launch in January of the Mobile Boarding Pass (MPB) for Hong Kong � ights.

The MBP allows passengers to check in online and choose to receive the pass on their mobile devices via SMS (text message) and email.

They can then directly proceed through immigration, the security check and to the boarding gate by scanning the barcode on the MBP at the respective checkpoints.

The MBP soft launched on 1 December in Auckland and will gradu-ally be extended to other airports in the CX network.

Manager eBusiness Lawrence Fong says the major hurdle to ex-tending MBP is the acceptance by various airport authorities.

“But once Hong Kong starts doing it then I can see many other countries will start as well. The Airport Authority Hong Kong was very keen to start it at HKIA and be the pioneer for the service in Asia,” he says.

Customer Service Manager Tony Leung says even during the soft launch they had up to 60 passengers a day using the service.

“MBP means that congestion, especially during peak travel sea-sons, will be eased,” he says.

Mobile pass a step closer to paperless travel

SMOOTH SAILING: Passengers can use the Mobile Boarding Pass at every checkpoint including the aircraft boarding gate.

Service category.Helen, who joined CX in 1999, says

she hones her service skills by treat-ing tricky situations at work as an op-portunity to learn.

“The prospect of facing a diffi cult passenger may be daunting, but don’t try to escape,” says Helen. “Try to handle challenging situations on

your own.”She adds that it is always

worthwhile to take the ex-tra step to set passengers’ minds at rest.

It is a mindset that Sweet put into action last year when she helped an unac-

companied minor check in during the last shift of the day.

“I noticed how anxious her par-ents were, so I off ered to accompany the little girl to the boarding gate,” Sweet recalls.

“After the girl was buckled up in her seat, I took a photo of her and instant-messaged the picture to her parents so they would worry less,” she adds.

Sweet, who has been with CX since 1984, multitasks as cabin crew and a trainer of Infl ight Service Managers.

“The ISMs I’ve taught tell me that the training helped them immense-ly,” Sweet says.

“Some of them told me that dur-ing challenging times at work, they think of me and what I would do in that situation, and that helped them pull through,” she says.

WINNING ATTITUDE: (From far left) Helen Tsang, Vic-tor Lee, Sweet White and (above) representatives from the Rostering Team with their awards.

Thousands lined the street of Hong Kong’s popular tourist district of Tsim Sha Tsui on the fi rst day of the Year of the Dragon for the Cathay Pacifi c Interna-tional Chinese New Year Night Parade.

Chief Executive John Slosar helped open the parade alongside Financial Secretary John Tsang, Executive Director Hong Kong Tourism Board Anthony Lau, Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Greg So and Com-missioner for Tourism Philip Yeung (pictured right).

This was the 14th consecutive year for CX to be the title sponsor of the event, and the airline has committed to back it up to 2014.

The parade, of 35 fl oats and 12 performing troupes, was led by the airline’s fl oat which was ac-companied by dancers dressed as rugby players, dragon boat paddlers, squash players and several CX pedal karts to high-light the airline’s other key spon-sorship activities.

12

TAIW

AN

IND

IAStaff show they care

The Taiwan team visited the Taipei Happy-mount Colony on 13 December to deliver year-end blessings to the handicapped residents, followed by a visit to the Little Sisters of the

Poor on 25 December. The team pre-

pared snack boxes from the Children Are Us Bakery to distribute as Christmas gifts as well as providing after-noon tea and snacks to the elderly at the Little Sisters of the Poor.

Christmas is all around There were festive celebrations in all the Indian o� ces in December with parties, games and delicious food appearing at every Town O� ce around the country.

The airports also got into the Christmas spirit by decorat-ing the counters and wearing Santa hats to celebrate with pas-sengers.

Santa Claus pre-sented gifts of boxes of coloured pencils to children as well as giving greeting cards, plum cake and

PHIL

IPPI

NES

Cocktails with high fl iers The CX Manila team held a Christmas celebration on 13 December to honour the airline’s frequent � yers for 2011.

The event was hosted by Country Manager Martin Xu and both Dragonair CEO Patrick Yeung and Regional Manager Southeast Asia Wilson Yam � ew in for the occasion.

Diamond Card member Eric Concepcion was honoured as the member with the highest mileage, while Diamond members Annie Ferrer, Ma Luisa Cadaing and Ruben Paulo Lugtu were recognised as the next top three � yers.

Guests enjoyed a evening of jazz band music in celebration of CX’s newest destination, Chicago.

Positive tone set at Japanconference A remark by Sir John Swire, “Stay positive and do your very best”, was one of the messages delivered by General Man-ager Japan Simon Large at the annual Japan Conference held on 17 January in Tokyo.

After a brief review of an eventful 2011 by Simon, Chief Executive John Slosar told the approximately 70 managers and supervisors gathered from all the Japanese ports what is happening in CX as well as what lies ahead in 2012.

This included the “New Cathay” projects – the new Pre-mium Economy Class, new long-haul Economy Class seats and future product developments.

John also mentioned the strong comeback of the CX Japan performance towards the end of 2011 and the pros-pects for adding capacity on the Japanese routes.

The conference included a series of comprehensive pre-sentations covering cargo, revenue management, IT and product.

The team also heard from two external speakers – Tokyo University Professor George Olcott and McCann-Erickson’s Dave McCaughan – on the current state of Japan’s econo-my.

“Given everything that had taken place over the past 12 months, it was important to start the year off on the right footing and to focus our minds on the challenges ahead,” Simon says.

“This conference was about looking forward as a busi-ness, product changes, PSS, changes in the competitive environment and looking forward together as a winning team,” he adds.

Financial Services Manager Atsushi Goto says: “I really en-joyed learning about our strategy of chasing cargo. It was great to have such a focus on cargo at the conference as we don’t hear that level of detail on cargo matters normally.”

Reservations & Ticketing Supervisor Mitsue Kometani adds that learning about product changes, including lounge developments, was exciting.

“It was also very interesting to understand more about the competitive challenges ahead,” she adds.

Cargo Sales Planning Supervisor Tomomitsu Yoshimura says it was a very good opportunity to share the overall company direction with top management.

“The presentations by external guest speakers were also very interesting to give me a better perspective of Japan’s economy,” he adds.

Engineering Manager Narita Naoki Hosoda says the con-ference provided a chance to meet with staff from other offi ces. “It was also nice to meet with senior management whom we don’t see that often,” he says.

Simon concluded the conference by commenting on how the team can succeed in 2012 which is shaping up to be another challenging year.

UN

ITED

KIN

GD

OM

NEWS FOCUS

FROM THE TOP: The Japan team heard from John Slosar on the exciting developments in store in 2012.

Staff show they careStaff show they careThe Taiwan team visited the Taipei Happy-mount Colony on 13 December to deliver year-mount Colony on 13 December to deliver year-end blessings to the handicapped residents, end blessings to the handicapped residents, followed by a visit to the Little Sisters of the followed by a visit to the Little Sisters of the

Poor on 25 December. Poor on 25 December. The team pre-

pared snack boxes from pared snack boxes from

candy to passengers. The Mumbai Airport team organised games at the board-

ing gate for adults and children along with spot prizes and a singalong with passengers.

Award winners get fi red upThree companies – Intertek, Fired Up Corporation and Queen Mary University of London – were the big winners at the 2011 Cathay Paci� c China Business Awards, which took place at London’s Mandarin Oriental Hotel on 13 January.

The awards scheme, which was introduced in 2005, is designed to acknowledge and celebrate UK business dynamism and success in China and Hong Kong.

A panel of judges made up of senior representatives from CX, the China Britain Business Council, HSBC and the Daily Telegraph, reviewed numerous entries before choosing the three winning companies from a range of sectors spanning commerce, construction, education, professional services, energy and technology.

HSBC’s Group Chairman Douglas Flint and General Manager Europe Angus Barclay highlighted the achievements of the three companies at the ceremony which was attended by leading business � gures from the UK, Hong Kong and China.

The UK team welcomed Marco Polo Club members to the Ritz Hotel on 13 December for an appreciation event.

The invitees were thanked for their continued devotion to CX and for their support during these di� cult times.

Sta� also held their own Christmas celebrations at a bu� et lunch at the London o� ce and at a Phantom of the Opera-themed

event where sta� were masked and garbed in

Victorian-style party dress.

Christmas fun in the UK

13

CHIN

A

Kicking off the year in Xiamen

Mega event is a selloutoneworld alliance members hosted the � rst oneworld MegaDo – a special programme of � ights and activities for frequent � yer fanatics – in late January.

The MegaDo sold out in just 17 minutes with 180 frequent � yer members taking part.

The participants � ew from American Airlines’ Dallas/Fort Worth hub to British Airways’ London Heathrow home and back, with the premium cabins on AA’s 777 dedicated to the group.

They then took a special charter � ight to Seattle for a tour of the Boeing factory before heading on to Los Angeles for an event hosted by CX, Qantas and AA.

While in Los Angeles, the group had a chance to tour the new Business Class product on board a CX aircraft and sample signature cocktails.

Chinese cheers in ParisThe French team pulled out all the stops to bring the fun of Chinese New Year to the French capital.

On 23 January, passengers on board CX260 were warmly welcomed with special lai see packets. The team also met with suppliers and agents at a lunch to thank them for their contribution over the past year.

The team then turned out in freezing temperatures to take part in the annual Chinese New Year Parade organised by the city of Paris. Despite the cold, more than 25,000 spectators showed up to watch the parade and cheer them on.

IND

ON

ESIA

A sheer love for travel attracted Head of Sales & Marketing UK/Ireland Roberto Abbondio to work in the travel industry.

“I started independent travel when I was a teenager, following my favourite rock band U2 when they toured around Europe,” says Roberto, who joined Cathay Pacifi c in late 2010 after stints at Expedia and British Airways.

“I loved hitchhiking, despite my parents’ great concern. Those experiences have been a true eye-opener for me, teaching me how to respect diff erent cultures and also revealing the real meaning of being a European citizen.”

Roberto applies the spirit of multiculturalism to his professional life as well. He is Italian by birth and was educated in Italy, but spent the majority of his 15-year career working in the United Kingdom.

This resulted in a working style that can be best summarised as a mix of British pragmatism and Latin creativity, he says.

“I profess English pragmatism, which means being straight to the point and simply ‘getting things done’,” Roberto says.

“However, I kept some Latin elements in my personality. That does not mean waving arms when I talk – one thing that I noticed some Chinese and Italians have in common – but establishing rapport, showing warmth and understanding to colleagues and also being a passionate and enthusiastic character,” he says.

Roberto’s travel bugPORT PEOPLE

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WORLD CITIZEN: Travel has broadened Roberto’s horizons.

Multi-talented Financial Services Offi cer Minal Bangera has plenty to keep her busy when work is over for the day, from dancing, acting and modelling to charity work as well as pursuing a master’s degree.

During her 11 years at CX, Minal has worked at the airport, then with Cargo Sales & Reservations, and is now with the Finance team.

Of all her many hobbies, Minal is most passionate about dancing and has a degree in classical dance – Kathak style – and has also obtained a masters degree in classical dance – Bharat Natyam style. Minal has also appeared in television shows, plays and has modelled for print advertisements.

Her activity list does not end there – she is involved with the Rotary Club and is also a treasurer and active member of the Leo Club which is affi liated with Lions Club International.

In the middle of all this, she is also in the fi nal year of a master’s degree in Human Resource Development Management.

When asked how she manages to fi t everything in, Minal credits the support of her family and friends.

“I have been blessed with plenty of friends whom I can count on, a loving husband and a lovely daughter, as well as helpful, supportive work colleagues,” she says.

One busy lady

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Bonding moments Indonesian sta� gathered at the Sheraton Bandara Hotel on 14 January for a sta� conference and bonding session.

The event was hosted Regional Manager Southeast Asia Wilson Yam and Country Manager Indonesia Rob Bradshaw who delivered an overview of 2012. For the bonding session, sta� divided into groups to create a work of art on the theme of “what CX means to us”.

Delegates were also asked to create items made

of reused/recycled products, such as newspapers and plastic, to

wear at dinner that night.

Supporting needy children CX was a key sponsor of the Priscilla Hall Memorial Foundation Golf Invitational on 8 December with 290,000 Asia Miles up for grabs at the auction.

This foundation provides assistance to Indonesian children in need and this tournament is one of the main events held to help raise funds via an auction and lucky draw for participants.

More than 140 golfers from all over the world were invited to play at the Cengkareng Country Club with CX donating the miles which attracted a winning bid of 80 million Indonesian rupiah (US$8,900).

The money will be donated to Indonesian children to help meet their basic nutritional, shelter and educational requirements.

The CX and KA teams gathered in Xiamen on 12 January for the 2012 China Kick-Off and Marketing & Sales Conference with delegates joining from across the China network.

Director Sales & Marketing Rupert Hogg kicked off the event by sharing the pillars of the airline’s competitive strategy in China, before General Manager China Sam Swire updated staff on what has happened in the past year and what lies ahead in 2012.

At the gala dinner, Rupert, Sam and KA CEO Patrick Yeung presented port and long-service awards. The China regional and port managers also put together a short performance.

MULTI-FACETED: Minal has plenty to keep her busy.

Christina Foo, Cabin Crew

Relations Executive

1. You were a cabin crew for several years – why did you join the Cabin Crew Rela-tions team? I studied PR and Communica-tions so when this job came up it matched my background.

2. Is there anything you miss about being a cabin crew? I miss the travelling and having days o� during the week – it was a very di� erent way of working.

3. What does your role involve? Basically reaching out to the crew community. I also help organise social events such as outings, cocktails and forums.

4. What do you like about your job? I am interested in art and design, and this role allows me to create the promotional items for events and communications.

5. You’ve hung movie post-ers around your desk – do you have many of these? Hundreds! I love � lms and collect posters and movie memorabilia.

6. What type of movies do you like to watch? I like all kinds, but Hong Kong tends to concentrate on the more commercial movies.

7. So is there a big fi lm event you love? The annual Hong Kong Interna-tional Film Festival which features more arthouse � lms.

8. Do you have a favourite movie experience? There used to an outdoor cinema in the Tamar site. It was really cool to look up and see the sky and the big screen.

9. Favourite cinema in Hong Kong? I love the Broadway Cinemate-que in Yau Ma Tei. They have a café with a bookshop and movie memorabilia on sale.

10. Favourite travel place?My mother

comes from Taiwan so I go there every few

months.

Crew Relations

Executive

Oneminute with...

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Airport’smarathon manIf you see a man running back and forth between Drag-onair House and Cathay City, it might just be HKIA Ser-vice Leader Raymond Lo training for one of his monthly marathons.

Raymond started marathon running two-and-a-half years ago, mainly for health reasons.

“After close friends and relatives had health problems, I started thinking about how I could improve my own wellbeing,” he says.

“I live near Victoria Park in Causeway Bay so I practice there and, when I have an overnight shift, I run from HKIA to CX City which takes about 30 minutes. I also like to run between KA House and Cathay City several times during a training session,” he adds.

Raymond tries to compete in at least one marathon per month with his next one being a 12-hour ultra mara-thon in Taipei in March.

“Marathon running has become the most important thing to me and I use it as a check for my life,” he says.

“If I am so busy that I can’t spend a few hours to run

New JoinersBrian Kawabata, Business Process Development Engineer, ENGBrian started his career with the Honda Motor com-pany in Japan and also had an internship in the en-gineering section at Airbus in Toulouse.

Brian says he got a good feeling about CX when the interviewer stressed “safety fi rst, no compromise” during their meeting.

He has a car maintenance licence and used to maintain Porsches – “so anyone who has trouble

getting their cars fi xed, come and talk to me,” he says. Brian also plays the viola in an orchestra and occasionally performs with

the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra.

Cathy Morris, Group Programme Manager, IMTCathy worked in CX as an SMS Management & Technology consultant from September 2010 before coming on board as a staff .

“I joined CX for the chance to continue to work on major infrastructure and CRM programmes and I look forward to the challenges my new role with bring,” she says.

Cathy enjoys travel and shopping in her spare time. Along with her family she has enjoyed living in Hong Kong over the past 14 months.

CX World welcomes all new staff. Here are a few of the newcomers who recently came on board...

every day then I know something is wrong with my work/life balance.”

To stay motivated, Raymond also raises funds for chari-ties.

“I read in Runners World that many runners also raise funds for a worthy cause and I thought that was a great idea. So when I took part in my fi rst ultra marathon in 2011 – the 100km event in Singapore which went from 6pm through the whole night – I asked friends and col-leagues to sponsor me to raise funds for the eye charity Orbis.

“This kept me motivated when I got tired, as I knew every step meant one more cent would be helping them,” he says, adding that he raised more than HK$8,000 for the charity.

But it isn’t all serious. When Raymond took part in the Osaka marathon, he and four friends decided to dress up as the Power Rangers for a bit of fun. “We even wore the costumes on the train and around the event, and every-one wanted to take photos with us!”

marathon manevery day then I know something is wrong with my work/

To stay motivated, Raymond also raises funds for chari-

Runners World that many runners also raise Runners World that many runners also raise Runners Worldfunds for a worthy cause and I thought that was a great idea. So when I took part in my fi rst ultra marathon in 2011 – the 100km event in Singapore which went from 6pm through the whole night – I asked friends and col-leagues to sponsor me to raise funds for the eye charity

“This kept me motivated when I got tired, as I knew every step meant one more cent would be helping them,” he says, adding that he raised more than HK$8,000 for

But it isn’t all serious. When Raymond took part in the Osaka marathon, he and four friends decided to dress up as the Power Rangers for a bit of fun. “We even wore the costumes on the train and around the event, and every-one wanted to take photos with us!”

Engineering’s Steve Elmes’ year came to a highly satisfying close when he clinched the title in the 2011 Clio Cup China Series.

A “steady cruise” led to Steve taking third place in Round 9 of the cup on 10 December – enough to secure the driver’s championship in the 10-round event.

“This title is the � rst I’ve won since I came back into racing after 24 years o� the circuit”, says Steve, who put the SAR � ag on his car for the last race to acknowl-edge what Hong Kong has helped him to achieve.

“Credit must go to my coach, Macau racing queen Diana Rosa-rio, who took a 47-year-old bloke who hadn’t raced a car for more than two decades and made him into a winner,” he says.

Find out more about Steve and his passion for racing through the Meet the Team site at Cathay-paci� c.com.

Racing dream comes true for Steve

FESTIVE FUN: The staff Christmas party in France had a distinctly medieval theme.

SEASON’S GREETINGS: The crew of CX912 took

time out to create a special festive memory.

IN TUNE: Mumbai’s Darryl Cordeiro (third row, third from left) took part in a choral Christmas performance for President Pratibha Patil.

SERVICE REWARDED: Long-service pins were pre-

sented to staff on the Hong Kong RES team.

Ten-year-old Blaise Kingan – daughter of Construction Project Man-ager Darrell from the cargo terminal project – was fi nally able to complete a “peace mission” at the start of her Christmas holidays.

Eighteen months ago, Year Four students at her school learned about the story of Japanese schoolgirl Sadako Sasaki and began to make 1,000 origami cranes to place at her statue at Hiroshima Peace Park in Japan.

The earthquake and tsunami in March last year put plans for deliv-ery of the cranes on hold but, with help along the way from friendly CX fl ight crew, the cranes made a safe landing in Osaka in the early hours of 16 December before being transported on to Hiroshima by high-speed train.

“A big thanks to Ca-thay,” says Blaise’s mum, who accompa-nied her daughter on the mission.

CX helps out onpeace mission

To enter, visit the online quiz entry form on the CX World site. The deadline is noon on Friday, 9 March.

The QuizOur � rst prize this month is a three-month � tness and yoga contract from Pure Fitness.

The Pure Group is Asia’s premier lifestyle group that encompasses � ve Pure Yoga studios, four Pure Fitness clubs and two Pure Dining locations in Hong Kong.

There are also two Pure Yoga and Pure Fitness clubs in Singapore as

well as two Pure Yoga studios each in Taipei and New York. The Group currently has over 50,000 clients and more than 1,200 sta� .

Pure is dedicated to building a sense of community through the � t-ness, yoga and dining outlets, helping people gain a balanced perspec-tive and lead healthier, happier lives.

Go to www.pure-yoga.com and www.pure-� tness.com for more information.

The second prize winner will receive a Maxwell & Williams dim sum 22-piece set. A fun and artistic product, the set includes four pairs of chopsticks, chopsticks stands, bowls, placemats and a bamboo steamer.

Maxwell & Williams started from humble beginnings in Melbourne but today is a global brand with a presence in over 30 countries. For more information, go to www.maxwellandwilliams.com.

The second prize winner will also receive three bottles of Veuve Clicquot champagne courtesy of the ISD Catering team.

Our � rst prize this month is a three-month � tness and yoga contract from Pure Fitness.

lifestyle group that encompasses � ve Pure Yoga studios, four Pure Fitness clubs and two Pure Dining locations in Hong Kong.

Pure Fitness clubs in Singapore as well as two Pure Yoga studios each in Taipei and New York. The

Group currently has over 50,000 clients and more than 1,200 sta� .

RINGING IN THE NEW: The crew of CX251 saw in the New

Year in the air between Hong Kong and London.

MEMORY LANE: A group of Filipina crew celebrate their 20th anniversary with CX.

BONDING TIME: The Infl ight Services Training Department spent the day doing teambuilding activities at the Kam Tin Country Club.

CELEBRATION TIME: James Barrington and Martin Murray joined in the fun when 240 staff from six

departments all got together for Christmas dinner.

Ten-year-old Blaise Kingan – daughter of Construction Project Man-ager Darrell from the cargo terminal project – was fi nally able to complete a “peace mission” at the start of her Christmas holidays.

Eighteen months ago, Year Four students at her school learned about the story of Japanese schoolgirl Sadako Sasaki and began to make 1,000 origami cranes to place at her statue at Hiroshima Peace Park in Japan.

The earthquake and tsunami in March last year put plans for deliv-ery of the cranes on hold but, with help along the way from friendly CX fl ight crew, the cranes made

16

SHOW US YOUR TIPS!CX World welcomes sta� travel tips from across the network – email us at CCD#SCT

Travel bites

■ Boutique livingThe Picasso Boutique Serviced Residences in Manila is of-

fering CX sta� special rates from12,000 pesos (HK$2,200)

which includes daily breakfast, free use of the gym and the WiFi lounge and a house-keeping service.

The residences are located in the Makati CBD in Salcedo Village and guests can also use the Brasserie Boheme restaurant, visit the Qi Wellness spa or try out the Studio 119 salon.

The property also has an art gallery which showcases the work of both local and inter-national artists.

Go to Travel Desk for more information.

■ Up and away The 4th Putrajaya International Hot Air Bal-loon Fiesta will be held from 15-18 March with beautiful balloons from all over the world � ying high over the skies of Malaysia.

The � esta, with the theme “1World, 1Ma-laysia and 1Fiesta”, is expected to showcase 25 hot air balloons from 12 countries.

The popular night “night glow”, event where the hot air balloons participate in a light and sound show fol-lowed by � reworks, will be held on 17 March.

Go to www.myballoon� esta.com for more information.

■ Bend and stretch The International Yoga Festival will be held from 1-7 March at the Parmath Niketan Ashram in Rishikesh, northern India.

This annual festival always attracts great yogic masters who will demonstrate and explore the major traditions of yoga – hatha, raja, karma, bhakti, mantra, laya and jnana.

The seven-day programme will include more than 70 hours of yoga classes from world-class teachers and evening discus-sions with India’s leading spiritual leaders.

More from www.internationalyogafesti-val.com

HK$500 for a travel tale!

Every month, CX World invites all CX sta� to tell unusual, interesting or just downright quirky tales of travel moments around the world.

Sponsored by In� ight Sales, the lucky sender of the main story receives HK$500 worth of in� ight sales products of their choice from the ever-changing collection of over 260 items on o� er (excluding liquor and cigarettes).

Go shopping at www.cathaypaci� c.com/dutyfree

sales products of their choice from the ever-changing collection of over 260 items on o� er (excluding liquor

Mumbai’sJulianaSpencer was fl oating on air when she visited the home of the US space programme

Spaced out!Spaced out!The United States has al-

ways been on my wishlist of places to visit so when I arranged a

15-day trip I wanted to see as much as possible. The trip included San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego and fi nally

Houston, where the highlight was a visit NASA’s Johnson Space Cen-ter.

The centre is where history really happened and, although I have lived through the space exploration era, like everyone else I watched it on television. Retracing it all to where it actually happened was a mar-vellous experience.

Even if you are not a space enthusiast, there is plenty that will enthral you. The visit took us through the astronaut training site with all the mockups of the space vehicle and the historic mission control room.

In space there is zero gravity and I was surprised to learn how much we take for granted as an everyday task, from eating and working to exercising, takes on a new challenge in that atmosphere.

Space food has come a long way since the days of mystery meals in a tube, but with talk of consumer fl ights to space on the horizon I would recommend improving the cosmic cuisine before starting pas-senger fl ights.

Eating and drinking in orbit is an intricate process with a straw needed to suck the liquid out of a sealed package, and easy digestion being the main concern when considering what to eat.

Perhaps most diffi cult of all is the fact that water does not fl ow in a zero-gravity environment so washing in the normal way can’t be done.

Instead the astronauts ei-ther wipe themselves clean with alcohol or use a wet towel containing liquid soap, and use a waterless sham-poo.

The most surreal experi-ence of the whole trip was touching a real moon rock – it’s more than 3.8 billion years old!

Overall, I would thorough-ly recommend a visit to NASA as it’s a great way to see how far space exploration tech-nology has progressed over the years.

Spaced out! has al-

ways been on my wishlist of places to visit so when I arranged a

15-day trip I wanted to see as much as possible.

ASTRO VISIT: Juliana and her companion enjoyed their educational tour of NASA’s Johnson Space Center.

Snap happy

This month’s contribution comes from Corporate Account Manag-er Benelux Maurits de Beer and shows the Batu Caves in Malaysia.

“The caves are situated just outside Kuala Lumpur and visitors can enjoy watching the beautiful rays of sunlight falling into the area,” he says.

“Make sure you go early morning to get the best views and to avoid the crowd. But make sure you are in shape as there are 272 steps to get to this great vantage point,” Maurits says.

He adds that along the way visitors will also have the added fun of being greeted by lots of hospitable monkeys!

pypyp

This month’s contribution comes from Corporate Account Manag-