By: Tony Tyler |
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When the first issue of Airline Business came off the presses, I was in the eighth year of my aviation career and had just moved to Rome as Cathay Pacific's manager for Italy and France - though at that time we didn't actually fly to either country. We launched our service to Rome and Paris in April the following year at what was a pivotal time for our airline, as we continued our transformation from being a largely regional carrier to a highly-regarded international carrier, operating out of one of the world's great hubs.
In the bigger scheme of things, 25 years sounds like a comparatively short period, but both Cathay Pacific and the aviation world in general have gone through massive changes during that time. Looking back to my very happy days in Rome, I had little idea of what would happen to the small airline I worked for, which only became a listed company around the time our first flight arrived at Fiumicino.
Cathay Pacific was very different 25 years ago. Back then, we operated 19 aircraft; now the Cathay Pacific Group has more than 160, with another 65 on firm order. We flew to 28 destinations then; now, including our subsidiaries, Dragonair and Air Hong Kong, we fly to 82. A quarter of a century ago, we had around 7,000 staff; now we have almost 27,000 people working for our airlines and subsidiaries. Our turnover has grown eightfold, as has our cargo tonnage, while we now carry five times more passengers every year.
In 1985, we flew out of the charming, but woefully restricted, Kai Tak Airport, whereas now we have all the advantages of the superb Hong Kong International. We've provided plenty for Airline Business to write about as we've expanded our fleet and spread our network.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE
We have grown a lot, but does bigger mean better? On reflection I would say yes, especially in terms of what we can offer passengers, shippers and our investors. While it's easy to look back and think how much simpler things were 25 years ago, life never seemed easy at the time.
However, the number of issues our industry has to contend with seems to grow every year, and I would have been daunted had I known what slings and arrows awaited Cathay Pacific as I downed another espresso all those years ago. Two Gulf Wars, the Asian financial crisis, 9/11, SARS, the fuel crisis, the recent global economic meltdown it's been a roller-coaster ride in this business, as my hair colour testifies!
So where do we go from here? The challenges will never go away - indeed they will probably continue to grow. As an industry we are grappling with the issues of climate change, and battling at regional and international levels to stave off measures introduced by revenue-hungry governments that will put money into national treasuries but won't do much to help the environment.
And in 25 years, if the technological advances of the past quarter of a century are anything to go by, we are going to see radically different aircraft, powered not only by kerosene but by biofuels.
While on this hopeful note, let's hope that governments adopt a more pragmatic and less interventionist approach to an industry that is still overly regulated and is at the mercy of powerful and rapacious suppliers in every link of the value chain. We need fairer competition within our industry, and greater competition among all the component parts that we airlines rely on to make our business work.
For all the challenges the industry faces, there's still no business I'd rather be in. And from a Cathay Pacific perspective there's no city I'd rather be in than Hong Kong, which sits right at the gateway to the big story of the past quarter of a century - and undoubtedly the big story of the decades to come: China.
There weren't many clues around 25 years ago that China was going to become the world's economic powerhouse and emerge as a driving force in the aviation world. But our airline had the foresight to position ourselves in strategic terms - by bringing Dragonair into the Cathay Pacific Group and through our partnership with Air China - to ensure that we can enjoy the opportunities presented by this huge and growing market.
China will undoubtedly be making a lot of aviation news in the years to come and I'm sure that will be reflected in the pages of Airline Business. Best wishes on your 25th anniversary from everyone at Cathay Pacific.
| VIDEO INTERVIEW Speaking at the IATA AGM in June this year, Tyler was optimistic about Asia's role in driving the global economic recovery. |
Source: Airline Business
