From cabin to home: our new upcycled collection

Smiling faces looking back at you in photos taken on holiday. Mementoes that you’ve collected on your adventures, carefully placed around the house. Plush toys tucked away in your children’s rooms, gifted to them by cabin crew on their last Cathay Pacific flight. Souvenirs from your travels bring such happiness into your home – and now you can add another part of your Cathay experience to this collection. 

Our newest upcycled collection is not just about repurposing aircraft components, it’s also about celebrating our customers’ journey. “As with our very first upcycled collection, these products demonstrate our continued efforts to make use of materials that would otherwise be discarded when our aircraft retire or get refurbished – turning them into premium lifestyle products which customers can cherish beyond the cabin,” explains  Louisa Luk, Assistant Manager, Brand at Cathay. “For example, our A330 aviation tags highlight  specific aircraft models, registration numbers and interesting aircraft service statistics to  add an extra level of discovery, especially for our aviation enthusiasts.”

The upcycled floor cushion, crafted in partnership with Hong Kong brand G.O.D., is crafted from recycled and cleaned seat fabric from our Premium Economy and Economy cabins. For lounging on or simply admiring, the cushion is topped with a leather handle embossed with our brushwing logo and the words: “From cabin to home”. 

An icon of aviation history, the upcycled tray is made from repurposed tray tables from B-HLV, a member of our Airbus A330 fleet – and the first and last aircraft parked at Alice Springs during the pandemic. Equally decorative and functional, this tray is perfect for holding items including magazines, cups and books, and is fully equipped for its next adventure in your home.

Meanwhile, our A330-300 reclaimed aluminium aviation tags are crafted from two of our Airbus 330-300 aircraft, B-HLH and B-HLF, both of which retired in August 2020 after about 25 years of service. Crafted from actual aircraft fuselage, each piece is unique in thickness, colour and feel. Keep their spirit of adventure alive as you carry them with you on your next journey.

Before visualising the final products, our product design team first considered what materials they want to showcase in the collection. “We wanted to highlight a variety of materials and textures both in and outside the aircraft, including aircraft fuselage skin and cabin furnishings,” they remark. From there, the team brainstormed how to convert those parts into stylish and functional items.

Great care and attention go into the process of recycling materials. “We worked closely with our vendors and partners to handpick each tray and fabric piece to ensure they’re in good condition before being cleaned and washed to make sure they meet hygiene standards,” Luk explains.

“The preparation phase for gathering upcycled materials is quite lengthy,” adds our shopping team member Millie Mak, Assistant Manager, Retail & E-commerce.. “This process is significantly more challenging than using brand new materials.”  

Time is needed to collect the parts and conduct quality control. This process requires meticulous attention – for example, selecting used items that aren’t too old and ensuring parts are free of visible marks or dirt, even after cleaning.

However, the effort pays off. “We hope customers can enjoy the fact that no two upcycled items are the same as a result,” says Luk.

Despite reusing old materials, the quality of the collection is exceptional, thanks to the efforts of product design team, led by Cilla Lau, Product Designer at Cathay. “Although we’d like to feature the original recycled material as much as possible,” she says, “we also want to ensure the final product is refined and aesthetically pleasing. It was a challenge to strike a balance between the use of newly fabricated parts and the used materials in our final products.”

The hope is that this upcycled collection will evoke cherished memories. 

“By bringing these products home, customers can relive the joys of travel and their experiences with Cathay.”