[媒體名稱] 南華早報
[新聞日期] 2017/3/31
[網址] https://www.google.com.tw/amp/m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/economy/article
/2083585/hong-kong-cathay-pacific-passengers-feel-squeeze-push-profits%3Famp%3
D1
或
https://goo.gl/jkQtN8
Hong Kong Cathay Pacific passengers to feel the squeeze in push for profits
Flagship carrier plans to add additional seat to each economy class row in a b
id to reverse its losses
Danny LeeDanny Lee
UPDATED : Friday, 31 Mar 2017, 11:15AM
Cathay Pacific Airways plans to cram 10 per cent more passengers into economy
class, adding one more seat to the existing nine per row, as Hong Kong’s flag
ship carrier tries to reverse its loss-making operation.
The airline, which lost HK$575 million last year, will embark on a three-year
overhaul of economy class, adding extra seats on Boeing 777-300 planes from th
e middle of next year.
Leg room will remain at 32 inches, but passengers with bigger frames will want
to note that the width of each seat will shrink by 1.3 inches to 17.2 inches.
Rupert Hogg, Cathay Pacific’s chief operating officer, tried to put a positiv
e spin on the impending overhaul, promising to deliver a “great in-flight exp
erience”.
New seats will have a bigger 12 inch in-flight entertainment (IFE) screen – w
ith the IFE box hidden inside chairs and not taking up legroom, plus more pers
onal storage and Wi-Fi is also set to be added to planes.
On the comfort side, the newly designed seats would be smaller but have more c
omfort and better padding, plus have supporting headrests to benefit sleeping
passengers.
“We will be able to make a great product because seat technology has changed
so much,” Hogg said in an interview with the Post. “We spend a lot of time s
weating the details in every cabin and we will design a product that is really
good value for money.”
Some 48 long-haul Boeing aircraft will be fitted with either 19 or 28 extra ec
onomy class seats each to accommodate 296 or 368 travellers. Each of Cathay Pa
cific’s 17 short-haul jets will get 40 extra seats to fit 438 travellers.
Job cuts expected as Cathay Pacific targets 30 per cent savings in head office
management costs
While Hong Kong International Airport is expected to be unable to add new flig
hts by the end of the decade, Cathay Pacific’s denser economy class cabins wi
ll fly an extra 1.4 million passengers per year.
“It gives us a big productivity boost because we have more take-offs and land
ings with extra seats but the same number of aircraft, and the seat cost per m
ile will go down,” Hogg said.
In addition to taking delivery of new aircraft after 2020, Cathay Pacific will
increase seat capacity by up to 5 per cent annually until the third runway op
ens in 2024.
A majority of airlines in the Middle East, North American and European have ad
opted a high density economy seating arrangement including Emirates, Qatar Air
ways, Air France and American Airlines.
Will Horton, from CAPA Centre for Aviation, said Cathay Pacific would gain an
edge in returning to profitability. For consumers “10 seats per row will be a
hard sell”, but the loudest voices tend to dominate, he said.
Achim Czerny, an associate professor in aviation management at Polytechnic Uni
versity, concluded: “There is so much more demand. The question is do you wan
t to serve these customers because there is so little room to expand flights r
elative to demand. Passengers would be happy to get a seat at all. They don’t
care, at least they can fly.”
分隔線
1. 777系列經濟艙要從3-3-3改為3-4-3
2. 前後椅距仍保持32吋、寬度由18.5改為17.2吋
3. 椅子設計改小、更多個人儲物空間、新12吋電視
4. 明年中開始改
5. 幾年前講過2017全部有Wifi但後來裝肖維，現在要加裝了