Cathay Pacific pursues 'Life Well Travelled'

Hong Kong-based carrier focuses on value of premium services

By Kim Rahn

In an era when travel has become common to almost everybody, people have begun to focus on how to have smooth, efficient and enjoyable travel because a good travel would enrich their lives.

Cathay Pacific Airways, a Hong Kong-based full-service carrier, clearly conveyed this focus in its recently presented campaign, “Life Well Travelled.”

“Travel has become a part of the DNA of many people,” Patrick Yeung, Cathay Pacific’s general manager for Taiwan and Korea, said in a recent interview with The Korea Times.

“People will want to travel well because travelling well means that your life is well, as travel is such a big part of everybody’s life, whether it is leisure travel or business travel,”the 57-year-old executive said.

In the campaign, Cathay focuses on three segments of travelers _ the “Road Warrior,” “Miss Adventure” and “Family.”

The Road Warrior is a business traveler who has a very hectic schedule filled with meetings, jet lag and other challenges overseas, but who still wants to share important moments with the people he or she meets.

The Miss Adventure is a young, solo traveler who enjoys new experiences in foreign countries and broadens her horizons. The number of solo travelers is growing for almost all parts of the world, according to Yeung.

Finally, the Family is a group of people who enjoy holidays and spending time together.

“The key concept (of the campaign) is how we link travel with life,” Yeung said.

Along with the campaign, Cathay changed its logo after almost 20 years. The color of the symbolic “brush wing” was changed from white to green, while the rectangle enclosing the wing was removed.

Yeung said the facelift also shows Cathay’s pursuit of greater simplicity.

“Time goes by fast, and we wanted to make life as easy and simple yet as elegant as possible. We want to create more value for customers. So, the gist of the whole concept is, travel is complicated, and we want to make it less complicated, make it less of a hassle and make it as smooth as possible, so that we’ll be able to offer a very smooth service when customers travel with us, whether it’s the Road Warrior, Miss Adventure or the Family.”

However, the Life Well Travelled campaign is more than superficial changes, such as changing the company’s logo. It also includes improving the airline’s services and products to make sure “21st-century travelers will feel more comfortable,” Yeung said.

Cathay Pacific and its sister carrier, Dragonair, will invest 190 billion Hong Kong dollars through 2024 to acquire about 80 aircrafts with more fuel efficiency, wider and more comfortable seats and more diverse in-flight entertainment.

How to win in the Korean travel market

Hong Kong is one of the most popular destinations for Koreans, with 1.5 million Koreans visiting the city last year, up 7.8 percent from the previous year. Korea is also popular among Hong Kong residents largely owing to the “hallyu” or Korean Wave, according to Yeung.

The popularity and the resulting high demand for Korea-Hong Kong flights, however, do not mean that Cathay doesn’t need to promote or market itself in Korea, because competition among carriers is very fierce, especially with the growth of low-cost carriers (LCCs), here.

“Overall demand is healthy and positive, but competition is very keen. We have to be more creative,” Yeung said.

“In terms of recognition of the Cathay Pacific brand in Korea, still not many people know that Cathay is such a great brand, thinking it is an LCC. So, I think we have to find more efficient ways of communication. Particularly, with the new logo and all these fantastic products and services we have, we hope that we’ll be able to continue increasing our market share.”

Although Cathay may be less price competitive than LCCs, Yeung said the airline will maintain its premium, full-service positioning because there is a need for premium services.

He said the economic situation in the Asia-Pacific region is good, presenting significant opportunities for the carrier to expand. The aviation industry is heavily dependent on the economy, with more people flying the higher the GDP and incomes are.

Cathay now operates seven flights a day between Incheon and Hong Kong, while Dragonair runs one flight a day between Busan and Hong Kong and two flights per week between Jeju and Hong Kong.

For now, Cathay does not have plans to increase flights to and from Korea but keeps watching the market situation, Yeung said.

Who is Patrick Yeung?

Yeung joined the Swire Group, which holds a 40-percent stake in Cathay Pacific Airways, in 1980. Since that, he held major posts at Swire Shipping and the Cathay Pacific Group.

He was the managing director of Cathay Holidays, a Cathay Pacific affiliate, from 1998 to 2004. From 2004 to 2007, he served as Cathay Pacific’s general manager for Southeast Asia. He then served as Dragonair and Cathay Pacific’s general manager for mainland China from 2007 to 2009.

Yeung was also the director general manager and chief representative of John Swire & Sons’ China unit from 2009 to 2011 and Dragonair’s CEO from 2011 to 2014.In 2014, he returned to Cathay Pacific as the general manager for Taiwan and Korea.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in social sciences from the University of Hong Kong.