ETW Staff – Mumbai
Dragonair has been officially rebranded as Cathay Dragon. At an unveiling ceremony at the newly-named Cathay Dragon House, the airline’s headquarters in Hong Kong, Algernon Yau, CEO, Cathay Dragon, said, “This is a momentous day in the history of Cathay Dragon and I am excited about the future of the airline and the fresh opportunities that our rebranding brings. As we align more closely with Cathay Pacific, new prospects will open up on multiple fronts enabling us to become stronger and thrive in this intensely competitive industry.”
The airline’s customers also joined in the launch celebration at a separate event at Hong Kong International Airport, which involved Cathay Dragon pilots, cabin crew and ground staff. Local celebrity Nicholas Tse was also present to welcome Cathay Dragon passengers at the departure gate with an assortment of treats from his Chef Nic’s Cookie Cha Chaan Teng range. In a newly formed partnership with the singer-actor, Cathay Dragon will carry Chef Nic’s Cookies in all classes for selected periods and flights as part of the rebranding celebration.
The Dragonair-to-Cathay Dragon brand conversion process started earlier this year following an initial rebranding announcement in January. The most visible change to date has been the introduction of the new Cathay Dragon livery, which includes the Cathay ‘brushwing’ logo, serving as a visual association to the integrated airline group.
The rebranding will introduce both airlines to a wider audience, from the growing inflow of overseas passengers who are more familiar with the Cathay Pacific brand, to the numbers of Cathay Dragon passengers from Mainland China.
Cathay Dragon has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Cathay Pacific since 2006.
Passengers will be greeted with the new Cathay Dragon identity at check-in desks, boarding gates and lounges across the airlines’ networks, from crew uniforms to boarding passes. The airline’s website will become fully integrated into a single shared website with Cathay Pacific in early 2017.
In addition, the G16 lounge in Hong Kong, which is currently undergoing an extensive renovation, will reopen as a group lounge in 2017.
“I am confident that Cathay Dragon will maintain the highest level of operational and service excellence built by our people over the past 30 years. I truly believe that we have great potential and an amazing future ahead of us by working together to make the most of the opportunities for both our airline and our people,” added Yau.