Another aspect of the airport’s connectivity is its transport links, the most visible of which are the HZMB and ferries from across the Pearl River Delta. ‘We are aligned with the Airport Authority in supporting Hong Kong as a hub,’ says Hogg. ‘We launched new routes and will continue to do so to support the hub – and we will make it multi-modal with the new connectivity to the region.’

We will hear the term ‘multi-modal’ a lot in the future. It means using the various transport options across the GBA – road, rail and sea – which will help customers start their journeys on Cathay Pacific closer to home. So far, this has included bundling fares and ferry trips through codeshares with ferry companies for trips from Guangzhou, Humen, Macao, Nansha, Shenzhen, Zhongshan and Zhuhai.

Some of these ports also offer upstream check-in to make travel to HKIA and beyond more straightforward and contained in a single booking. There is also a desk at the new high-speed rail station in West Kowloon that allows travellers arriving from the Greater Bay Area to do in-town check-in or transfer to the Hong Kong Airport Express.

‘These are already seamless connections for people coming in from the GBA, and we will keep looking at how we can do more and better,’ says Hwang. ‘From the commercial side, we are trying to have joined-up fare products for customers.’

This includes a new initiative that gives GBA customers – depending on cabin class – a QR code with bookings that lets them board a coach or Skylimo from Zhuhai to cross the HZMB to HKIA. By 2021, when a new spur of the bridge is complete, passengers will be taken from check-in at Zhuhai directly to HKIA airside within 45 minutes.

At the Leadership Conference, Chief Customer and Commercial Officer Paul Loo said: ‘Our competitors in the GBA are growing in strength and quality, but because of our brand, history and expertise around the world, we feel we are in the best position.’

Hero image credit: Anthony Wallace / AFP / Getty Images