In Hong Kong, Cathay Pacific’s enormous corporate headquarters and crew base is located close to the airport.
Naturally, Hong Kong International Airport serves as the location of Cathay Pacific’s corporate headquarters. Nonetheless, it’s unexpected how big they are. Being one of the biggest corporate buildings in Asia, the airline has constructed “Cathay Pacific City”.
Cathay City construction
The new Hong Kong International Airport was launched in 1988, the same year that Cathay Pacific opened its new headquarters. It was constructed to the southeast of the main airport development on four hectares of reclaimed ground.
The development’s overall floor space was 145,500 square meters, according to Dragages Hong Kong, one of the construction firms participating in the project. 4.9 billion Hong Kong Dollars ($624 million) total were spent on the development, according to Cathay Pacific. Cathay City is more than simply a single corporate headquarters, as you could guess from the name. There are numerous structures with various uses, including a major building with a height of 23 floors.
many structures and facilities
The corporate office, the flight operations center, and the base for all personnel to gather and prepare for flights are all located in Cathay City.
The enormous building is home to offices, an auditorium, a flight operations center, a crew operations center, a hotel for airline employees, and a sizable training facility.
The training facility contains a full simulation of the Airbus A330 interior in addition to a number of other full cabin mockups for various aircraft and cabins. Cabin service training and practice are made possible as a result. For emergency and cabin evacuation training, there are other safety training facilities.
One goal is to provide round-the-clock service for airline employees, both flying and operational. Cathay City has crew housing, catering, laundry services, a bank, stores, a hair salon, and even an entire gym with basketball courts for workers.
Have a peek at this video by Luxury Fred for an interesting tour of some of Cathay City’s facilities. Particularly amazing are the views from the hotel’s upper stories.
A vintage DC-3 honors the heritage of the airline.
There is also an aircraft, which is fitting. An ex-Cathay Pacific Douglas DC-3 is situated at the main front gate to Cathay City. This is one of the airline’s earliest aircraft, though not the renowned Betsy, which was used to launch the company and is now preserved and on exhibit at the Hong Kong Science Museum.
Betsy began operating in January 1946, initially out of Shanghai. In September of that year, the airline relocated to Hong Kong with its lone aircraft. By the end of the year, the fleet included two more DC-3s, including VR-HDA, which is currently based in Cathay City.
Waterside and British Airlines
The construction of a sizable, central headquarters was not just done for Cathay Pacific Airlines. In close proximity to its base at Terminal 5 at London Heathrow, British Airways constructed Waterside as a new build dedicated headquarters. Although less extensive, this performs similar services to Cathay City.
In 1998, the £200 million building debuted as well. Yet the future of it is unknown. With significantly decreased utilization during and after the epidemic, British Airlines said in 2021 that it was thinking about selling Waterside. No matter what, the facility will be razed if the third runway for the airport is built.
