Cathay Pacific Unveils New Paint Job in Biggest Makeover in Two Decad

Cathay Pacific will officially unveil the biggest makeover for 20 years this afternoon at Hong Kong International Airport, revealing a contemporary paint job for its fleet of aircraft.

Gone is the old design and logo that became an unmistakable part of the aviation landscape for two decades, replaced by an all green tailfin with a white brushwing. The red stripe has been axed with the dark green wrap around the nose of the plane also removed.

The new paint job will be unveiled on its Boeing 777 aircraft - sporting a larger amount of white paint splashed across the fuselage. A horizontal green stripe which stretched from nose to tail remains in place, with a green brushwing placed beside the cockpit.

But the airline's unveiling of the new livery on its YouTube channel was greeted with as much support as criticism and derision for tampering with a cultural icon. The paint job of old was considered by some netizens to be "timeless" and the new changes labelled "boring".

The airline's makeover, which started with a revamped logo, comes as Hong Kong's largest airline faces numerous changes into the future.

Cathay last week opened the possibility of adding more seats in economy class across the long-haul Boeing 777 fleet, squeezing the width for passengers, after surveying customers on the plan. The company later said it come to "no decision" on changing seat pitch and width.

Two months ago the airline's frequent flyer programme, the Marco Polo Club, was restructured to focus on rewarding customers who spent more money, typically through expensive, premium seats. The move makes it harder for customers on the fringes of frequent flyer benefits to renew their status.

The company will receive in February next year the first of 48 orders for the next-generation fuel-efficient aircraft in the shape of the Airbus A350, in an investment worth US$10 billion, priming the company for route expansion.

Separately, the airline has won praise for redesigned premium airline lounges, which will gradually be rolled out across the airline's global network.

Just one month the airline was forced to come out and acknowledge poor morale and bad publicity and pledge to tackle the issue of fatigue among its roster of 3,000 pilots after a open letter from 100 senior pilots warning of tiredness among aircrew prompting warnings of a threat to flight safety was published.

Among the mixture of changes, all Hong Kong-based airlines face a near-decade of worry until a third runway is constructed and completed by 2023.