12Dawn has not long broken - Cathay Pacific

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4 The Hong Kong Sevens is still fresh in our minds and now there’s another great rugby event to look forward to! In just two weeks, the British and Irish Lions embark upon their 125th year Anniversary Tour with the first stop at Hong Kong Stadium on 1 June. The British & Irish Lions, a team selected from the four fiercest of rivals (England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales) join forces to go on an official Tour of Australia, and their first stop will be in Hong Kong to play the Barbarians - only the second ever game between these teams. This is one of the biggest sporting events to arrive in Hong Kong and CX World has two pairs of tickets to give away! To go into the lucky draw to win these great prizes, simply send an email marked “Rugby tickets” to CCD#SCT. Please include your name, ERN and daytime contact number. Lions vs Barbarians tickets are available from www. hkticketing. com. More information at www. lionsrugby.hk The deadline for entries is Thursday, 23 May. The winners of the lucky draw will be announced on Daily News. A number of people have asked where we got the stunning nighttime aerial shot of the cargo terminal that featured on the cover of the April CX World. The picture came courtesy of photographer David McIntyre – an old friend of CX – who was passing over HKIA in a helicopter while on assignment for another organisation. Visit www.dgmcorporate.com The Line Maintenance team in Engineering recently inked more agreements to provide support for other carriers in various outports, helping to offset the CX Group’s own maintenance costs. Third-party deals were recently sealed with Emirates in Brisbane and China Southern in Sydney for the handling of A380 aircraft. Adam Nelson, Head of International Line Maintenance Operations, says that the Group’s revenue from third-party business has now grown by more than threefold over the past decade and equates to 25,000 aircraft movements per annum. The number of online stations in the CX Group has now grown to 95, and Adam says “The primary goal remains the same year on year which is to deliver safe, reliable and compliant aircraft that meet business requirements, but in addition to this we have an opportunity due to our own aircraft and operational efficiencies to build the third party business which will ensure longer term sustainability”. Alignment across the teams throughout the network was reinforced at the Line Maintenance 2013 kick-off meeting earlier in the year. “2013 will be a challenging year for us. We will be managing 110,000 movements between the airline group and our third party business, not to mention new deliveries and retirement of aircraft, charter flights and fleet changes within regions. Managing all of this is only possible due to the highly committed Line Maintenance team we have throughout the network” says Adam. The Annual Line Maintenance Awards were presented at the kickoff event to recognise those stations with an outstanding performance and that made an exceptional contribution last year. Anchorage was crowned Best Station for “Consistent Excellence in Line Maintenance Operational performance with outstanding safety, service and cost management”. GROWING BUSINESS: Senior Engineering managers (front, centre) with the Line Maintenance managers who flew in for a kick-off event earlier this year. The six Saint-Émilion wines recently added to CX’s First Class wine list give the airline’s premium passengers yet another reason to return. These include the famous Château Figeac 2007 and Château Canon-la-Gaffelière 2007, both from Premier Grand Cru Classé chateaux, as well as the up-and-coming Château Dassault 2004, Château La Couspaude 2009, and Château Fonplégade 2008. Also on the list is the excellent Château Haut Brisson La Réserve 2009, which is produced by a Chinese-owned estate. “CX traditionally serves Bordeaux wines from the left bank in First Class, so we thought we’d do things differently this time by choosing Merlot-dominant wines from the right,” says CX wine consultant and Winenow chief editor Lau Chi-sun. Right bank wines use a fair amount of Cabernet Franc, which adapts better to the region’s cooler clay soils than Cabernet Sauvignon. The six promotional wines are now served on various CX flights and rotated regularly until May 2014. “Selecting wines that ‘fly’ is different from choosing wines on the ground. Wines may suffer ‘bottle shock’ if served at 38,000 feet, affecting the aroma and taste,” says General Manager Inflight Services James Ginns. “Our catering team works closely with wine consultants to overcome the limitations of enjoying wine at high altitude. Their expertise has helped CX win awards, including Best Airline for Food and Wine in the Frequent Business Traveller GlobeRunner Awards,” James adds. CX currently carries around 100 wines from France, Italy, South Africa, Australia, the United States and New Zealand. MASTERCLASS: International and local media tried the six new Saint-Émilion wines at a tasting event on 2 May, with CX’s wine consultants offering expert tips. Beginner’s guide to inflight wine Q: How do inflight conditions affect taste and smell? Roy: Don’t expect the wines you taste on the ground to be the same in the air. The air is 40% drier in the cabin, affecting our sense of smell. Circulation by air conditioning and vibrations on the plane rob the wines of some of their flavour and aroma. Wines with strong tannins become more bitter, and if it’s acidic it becomes more so. Q: How does CX overcome this? Roy: We don’t know which wines can fly and which ones cannot if we don’t test them, so that’s what we do – wines are flown to Hong Kong straight from their origins before they are subjected to blind tasting by an expert panel. Q: What are some common characteristics of CX inflight wine? Roy: Our inflight wines generally have a big fruit flavour, with mild tannins and a balanced acidity. Q: What are some tips on enjoying wine during a flight? Lau: The glass should be filled to less than a third, so that you can swirl the wine to get the full effect of the aroma. However, don’t keep swirling because you’ll fatigue the wine. Every time you pick up the glass, give it a quick twirl.
n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n n The team at CPSL is now gearing up for the commencement of Stage Two operations – the biggest test yet of the Cathay Pacific Cargo Terminal’s capabilities. CPSL issued a notice to the industry advising that a gradual approach is being adopted to ensure a smooth transition for customers – from 3 June, the terminal will start handling all transhipments and import cargo for KA aircraft, followed by handling CX passenger flights from 17 June and CX/AHK freighters from 30 June. CPSL CEO says that after an eightweek operational trial for Stage Two, all systems, facilities, personnel and work procedures are ready for live operations. “Up to 3 June, more stress tests will be conducted to help better prepare for all situations we may face in the future,” says Algernon. “Our staff have put in a lot of effort to prepare for this next big transition and we’ve been working closely with all key partners – including HAS and CX – to ensure readiness.” Meanwhile, the team has been pleased with the progress of new technologies put in place to boost the efficiency of terminal operations. “RFID technology has been deployed for truck control and also for the processing of staff laundry,” says Cargo Terminal Programme Manager Peter Lee. More than 2,000 trucks that regularly visit the terminal have been issued with an RFID tag which, together with CX Cargo’s e-freight initiative, saves time processing on-arrival documents and assigning truck docks. “Truckers can make a booking on the web and proceed directly to their assigned dock on arrival,” says Peter. “For import cargo, when the truck passes through the entrance booth the booking information will be retrieved and the materials handling system (MHS) will start to transport the cargo to the truck dock while the truck is still on its way up the ramp.” CPSL has also worked with Vogue Laundry to implement the first automatic laundry system in Hong Kong. Each uniform has an RFID tag and staff just need to deposit the uniform at the kiosk. For uniform pick-up, staff can simply present their staff card and the system will automatically retrieve their uniform items. As RFID may not work as well in metallic environment, bar code technology has been deployed in the MHS, and all storage locations, storage devices and ULDs have been bar-coded. “This eliminates data entry error and provides precise information on where the ULDs or cargo shipments are positioned,” Peter says. TECHNOLOGY BOOST: RFID tags and barcode scanning are making terminal operations more efficient. (above and left) Staff from CX, KA and subsidiaries have responded to the devastating earthquake in Sichuan by contributing to a companywide appeal. The 6.6-magnitude shock, which tore through Sichuan on 20 April, killed almost 200. The CX Group has pledged to match staff donations dollar for dollar. The company donations, along with sums collected on CX flights from 1 to 15 May through the Change for Good programme, will go directly to UNICEF’s Sichuan relief effort to help children lacking medical supplies, nutrition and fresh water. KA also joined the Change for Good initiative from 1 to 15 May to contribute to UNICEF’s Sichuan appeal. Manager Changsha Joseph Man went a step further by joining a voluntary group to visit the earthquake zone. Armed with generators and food, Joseph and other members of the Hunan Returnees Association travelled in small trucks to remote mountain villages in the hard-hit Lushan County from 29 April to 3 May. “Our group, together with volunteers from all over China, provided material aid to villagers whose food supply and electricity were cut,” says Joseph. It was a perilous journey, with falling boulders cracking the windscreen and aftershocks felt almost every day. The destruction of roads meant that Joseph and his team had to drive across streams and along dirt paths to reach the villagers. But Joseph maintained that it was a worthwhile experience. “The feeling of helping the needy on the front line is unique. My extraordinary experience in Sichuan has helped me understand humanity in a more profound way,” says Joseph. GOOD DEEDS: Joseph and Passenger Sales Officer Brenda Zhang raised sums for Sichuan victims at a local charity bazaar. 5
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Page 6 and 7: 9 A staff member in DHL’s warehou
Page 8 and 9: Photos by Samuel Lo & Eric Leung Ca
Page 10 and 11: When the call went out for a food-l
Page 12: The Copthorne Orchid Hotel in Penan

12Dawn has not long broken - Cathay Pacific

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