Step onboard Cathay’s newest, shiniest airplane

Hamburg to Hong Kong is not exactly the short hop that Cathay Pacific envisions for its growing fleet of Airbus A321neos. But if you want them to fly around Asia, they have to get there first. For pilots like Captain Thierry Gloor, that means an occasional – and welcome – addition to the logbook: the delivery flight.  

A delivery flight is always noteworthy. Other than test pilots at Airbus’ Hamburg factory, this is a new aircraft’s first flight under Cathay Pacific ownership – which means that everything has that “new car smell”.

“That’s definitely there, for sure,” says Gloor, reflecting on his February flight from Hamburg to Hong Kong to deliver one of our newest aircraft, registration B-HPO. “On the flight deck, all the systems perform nicely, and you can feel that the aircraft is different. Everything is crisp, the displays are spotless and the seats are a bit firmer.” 

The A321neo derives its next-generation performance and its name (“neo” stands for “new engine option”) from its LEAP-1A engines, which offer a 15 per cent fuel saving and an extended range of 930km compared with the existing ceo (“current engine option”) aircraft. All well and good, but on a flight this long there still has to be a fuel break – in this case in Dubai – after nearly seven hours of flying. 

With fuel organised, the crew decanted for the night. Along with Gloor was a First Officer to share the flying, and an engineer, there to take readings to help construct a “performance factor” for the aircraft. Over time, the performance factor deviates from when it was new, which increases fuel requirements. “The engineer records all these parameters in flight so that they can work out where we’re starting with this particular aircraft,” explains Gloor. 

Back on board after 12 hours or so at the crew hotel, it was time to get underway: over Oman, then India, Bangladesh, Myanmar and lastly the Chinese Mainland for just over seven hours. “It’s such a light aircraft and the winds were favourable with the jet stream pushing us home,” reports Gloor. “The sun set as we flew over Myanmar, and we finally arrived in Hong Kong just past 1am local time.” 

While every new arrival is special, Cathay Pacific has received 10 of the new single-aisle aircraft as of the end of April, so things are becoming more routine. B-HPO landed without fuss or fanfare. “There wasn’t a fire truck waiting for us with a water arch,” laughs Gloor – a tradition for the first aircraft arriving at an airport – but regardless of the welcome, his efforts are central to our short-haul offering. 

The A321neo brings a piece of the long-haul passenger experience to regional, short-haul flying from Hong Kong. The Economy seats are the same as you’ll find in the larger A350-1000, as is the cabin mood lighting. Every seat comes with an ultra-high-definition 4K screen, with Bluetooth capability for your own headphones. We can’t wait for you to step on board.