Cathay Pacific Introduces ‘Chinese Classics’ Business Menu; Cathay Dining Unveils Sustainable Wash System
- Joe Breitfeller
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
Cathay Pacific has today announced the introduction of new ‘Chinese Classics’ dining offerings for Business class guests. The carrier also announced that their Cathay Dining unit has unveiled a sustainable Food Waste Segregation Warewash System.
On Thursday (May 29, 2025), Cathay Pacific announced the introduction of a new ‘Chinese Classics’ Business Class menu. The carrier hosted a special tasting event on Wednesday (May 28th) presenting the new dining offerings inspired by Eight Great Cuisines of China. Complementing Cathay Pacific’s ‘Hong Kong Flavours’ and ‘International Favourites’ offerings, the new Chines Classics menu aims to provide a diverse culinary experience for guests, while showcasing the airline’s leadership and innovation in inflight dining.
At Wednesday’s tasting event, Cathay’s Director – Customer Travel, Erica Peng, said,
“Our ‘Chinese Classics’ menu complements our already popular ‘Hong Kong Flavours’ and ‘International Favourites’ options, showcasing rich Chinese cultural heritage to all our customers. These dining offerings are meticulously crafted, vibrant in both flavour and presentation. We hope that these iconic dishes can offer our customers a taste of home and warm their hearts whenever, wherever they fly with us.”
Selections From Cathay Pacific's New 'Chinese Classics' Business Menu - Courtesy Cathay Pacific
The new Chinese Classics menu includes dishes from Sichuan, Fujian, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shandong, Guangdong, Anhui and Hunan, redefining inflight dining with innovative concepts and exceptional quality. In order to meet the unique demands of onboard catering, Cathay’s culinary team researched flavour profiles, ingredients, cooking techniques and the cultural heritage of theses regional cuisines, ensuring the dishes retained their authentic flavours and visual appeal at altitude.
Cathay Pacific’s ‘Chinese Classics’ Business menu has been progressively introduced on select outbound flights from Hong Kong to the Chinese Mainland from April 2025. Featuring a new dish each month, the menu bring fresh and authentic Chinese flavours to guests from around the world. Dishes from Sichuan, Fujian, Jiangsu and Zhejiang this year, with a complete rollout of the eight regional cuisines expected in 2026. The Chinese Classics menu will be progressively rolled out across other routes and cabins.
In a separate press release on Thursday (May 29, 2025), Cathay Pacific announced that their Cathay Dining unit has unveiled an innovative Food Waste Segregation Warewash System with sustainability and operational enhancement. The new system has been designed to support the recycling of inbound food waste, while reducing utility consumption. With this innovation, Cathay Dining, a subsidiary of the Cathay Group and a leading flight kitchen, becomes the first airline caterer in Hong Kong to support the recycling of inbound food waste. The introduction of the new inbound food waste collection and recycling facility increases Cathay Dining’s food waste recycling capacity by 200 percent.
In Thursday’s announcement, Cathay Dining’s Chief Executive Officer, Agatha Lee, said,
“We are proud to lead the way in sustainable practices and operational excellence within the inflight dining industry. By reducing utility consumption and featuring an innovative food waste segregation design, this new system future-proofs operations and enables us to meet the evolving needs of our customers with a focus to sustainability – highlighted by the recycling of inbound food waste.”
Cathay Dining's New Food Waste Segregation Warewash System - Courtesy Cathay Pacific
The new facility’s design features dedicated conveyors and compactors that segregate food waste from other general waste. The collected food waste is then transferred to the Organic Resources Recovery Centre (O Park) nearby for anaerobic digestion and electricity generation. The O Park facility can process up to 500 tonnes of food waste daily, generating enough electricity to power around 8,000 households annually. To reduce utility consumption, the new system separates the stripping and washing processes, with washers only operating when the equipment reaches a pre-defined threshold, thereby minimizing unnecessary operation. The new Warewash System is expected to deliver a 70 percent reduction in electricity consumption and a nearly 60 reduction in water use compared to the previous system.
Source: Cathay Pacific
