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Greater Bay Airlines appoints Liza Ng as Chief Operating Officer
Greater Bay Airlines (GBA) announced the appointment of Liza Ng as Chief Operating Officer with effect from 1 June 2023. Liza will assist the Chief Executive Officer in the daily management of the airline and reports directly to him. Liza Ng started her aviation career as a Management Trainee of Dragonair in 1990, and gradually moved through the ranks to senior management positions at both Dragonair and later-on with Cathay Pacific as well. In her over 30 years of aviation management experience, she has held various senior management positions across commercial and operation functions in the airlines that she worked for. Her extensive experience gained as the chief executive in the past five years running a freighter airline and ground supporting companies has added to her wealth of aviation management experience. Stanley Hui, Chief Executive Officer of GBA, congratulated Ms Ng on her appointment. He said, “GBA has been expanding fast this year post COVID and is currently operating flights to five destinations since we commenced scheduled service in a small way in July 2022. We are in the midst of major expansion plans including the introduction of new generation, fuel efficient Boeing MAX -9 aircraft in 2024 and I am therefore most delighted to welcome Ms Liza Ng to help me take Greater Bay Airlines forward in the rapidly recovering aviation and tourism markets.”
Cathay Dragon pens major deal to revamp fleet
Cathay Dragon has ordered 32 A321neos Cathay Dragon, the Hong Kong-based airline formerly known as Dragonair, has signed a major agreement to modernise and expand its fleet. The carrier has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Airbus for 32 new A321neo aircraft. Valued at approximately HK$31.7 billion (US$4.1bn) at current list prices, these new fuel-efficient aircraft will replace Cathay Dragon’s existing single-aisle fleet of 23 aircraft, comprising 15 A320s and eight A321s. The airline also operates 24 twin-aisle A330s, all on routes within Asia. The new A321neos are scheduled to be delivered between 2020 and 2023. "We look forward to introducing the aircraft into our fleet and expanding the reach of the Cathay Pacific Group to more customers," said Cathay Pacific's CEO and Cathay Dragon's chairman, Rupert Hogg. "The intention to purchase these 32 environmentally-friendly aircraft will allow us to add new destinations to Cathay Dragon’s network. We also intend to increase frequencies on some of our most popular routes in order to provide our customers with more travel choices and convenience. "Having focused on modernising and expanding Cathay Pacific’s long-haul fleet in recent times, this is an exciting new chapter for Cathay Dragon following last year’s rebranding," he added. According to Airbus’ design specifications, the A321neo has a seating capacity of 240 passengers and a range of up to 7,400km. When delivered, the aircraft will feature Cathay Dragon’s latest cabins products, including new seats and in-flight entertainment options.
Chinese competition puts Cathay Pacific in the red
A Cathay Pacific aircraft waits at Hong Kong International Airport Fierce competition, including a sharp rise in international flights from mainland China, severely impacted Cathay Pacific's finances in 2016. The Hong Kong-based group, which includes Cathay Pacific and the former Dragonair (recently rebranded as Cathay Dragon), fell to a full-year loss of HK$575 million (US$74m) last year - almost HK$6.8 billion lower than the full-year profit it achieved in 2015, and its first annual loss since the global financial crisis in 2008. Company revenues declined 9.4% to HK$92.75bn, including an 8.4% drop in passenger revenue, to HK$66.93bn. Cathay said the operating environment was "difficult" in 2016. Factors cited included the surge in direct flights between mainland China and international destinations, increased competition from low-cost carriers, overcapacity, softening economic growth in mainland China, and a decline in the number of visitors to Hong Kong. The group did manage to reduce its fuel costs by 20.4% to HK$4.91bn, but other expenses increased. And looking ahead to this year, Cathay Pacific's chairman, John Slosar, said he expected the operating environment to "remain challenging". "Strong competition from other airlines and the adverse effect of the strength of the Hong Kong dollar are expected to continue to put pressure on yield. The cargo market got off to a good start, but overcapacity is expected to persist," Slosar said. He added however, that the airline's long-term prospects remain strong. "Despite the challenges with which we are faced, we still expect our business to grow in the long-term. Air traffic to, from and within the Asia Pacific region is expected to grow strongly. We intend to benefit from this growth by increasing our passenger capacity by 4-5% per annum, at least until the third runway at Hong Kong International Airport is open. We will continue to introduce new destinations and to increase frequencies on our most popular routes. We are buying new and more fuel efficient aircraft. This will increase productivity and reduce costs," Slosar commented. Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon boarded a total of 34.32m passengers on 78,830 flights in 2016, up 0.8% and 0.2% respectively. Traffic on routes to and from mainland China, measured in revenue passenger kilometres (RPK), declined 0.5%.
Cathay traffic edges higher despite Chinese decline
Cathay's aircraft in their new livery Cathay Pacific recorded a slight increase in passenger traffic in 2016, despite falling demand on routes to and from mainland China. Revealing its full-year results this week, the company revealed that Cathay Pacific and its Dragonair subsidiary, recently rebranded as Cathay Dragon, boarded a total of 34.32 million passengers last year, just 0.8% higher than in 2015. The airlines operated a total of 78,830 flights in 2016, while the average passenger load factor - or the number of seats filled per aircraft - dipped 1.2 percentage points to 84.5%. Cathay struggled with falling demand on routes to and from mainland China (-0.5%) and the Middle East & South Asia (-13.4%) last year, but this was offset by increased traffic to and from Southeast Asia (+3.7%), Northeast Asia (+0.8%), North America (+0.8%) and Europe (+6.0%). Traffic to and from Oceania was almost flat (+0.1%). Cathay launched new several new destinations in 2016, including London Gatwick and Madrid, and it has already announced plans to fly to Barcelona in 2017.
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