The Cathay Group has today announced the reactivation of their 85th and final aircraft which had been in long-term storage in the Australian desert due to the pandemic. The Airbus A330, registration B-HLV, returned to Hong Kong on June 6, 2024.
On Tuesday (June 11, 2024), the Cathay Group announced the return of their 85th and final aircraft which had been in long-term storage in the Australian desert due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. The Group’s first aircraft was placed on long-term storage on July 28, 2020, during the airline industry downturn. The final reactivated aircraft, an Airbus A330 (registration B-HLV), landed in Hong Kong on June 6, 2024, where it will now undergo an extensive hangar maintenance check. During the height of the pandemic, Cathay Pacific and HK Express parked most of their aircraft at Hong Kong International Airport, as well as overseas in Alice Springs (Australia) and Ciudad Real (Spain).
In Tuesday’s announcement, Cathay Pacific’s Chief Operations and Service Delivery Officer, Alex McGowan, said,
“Parking and reactivating so many aircraft is a once-in-a-lifetime undertaking, the scale and complexity of which has never been seen before at Cathay. An incredible amount of work goes into keeping an aircraft safe and protected when it isn’t flying, and to then reactivate it for entry back into regular service. To do this for more than 85 aircraft long-term parked overseas, as well as to manage the large number of aircraft that were parked in Hong Kong, is a phenomenal achievement. Our heartfelt thanks go out to the Hong Kong Civil Aviation Department for their invaluable support throughout this process.
“Our teams in Hong Kong and around the world have been instrumental in ensuring our most valuable assets were well looked after, overcoming challenges together with positivity and determination, and embodying Cathay’s ‘can-do’ values. I am immensely proud of their incredible efforts as we reunite our last aircraft from the desert with the rest of our fleet and close a truly remarkable chapter in Cathay’s history.
“With our fleet now fully reunited, our focus is firmly on investing for the future. The Cathay Group has more than 70 new aircraft on order, with the right to acquire an additional 52 aircraft in the future. We are also exploring options for a new mid-size widebody aircraft. These investments reflect our ongoing confidence in the Hong Kong international aviation hub as we look ahead to the exciting opportunities presented by the Three-Runway System at Hong Kong International Airport when it is fully commissioned by the end of this year.”
Also commenting of the final aircraft reactivation, Cathay Pacific’s General Manager – Engineering Operations, Bob Taylor, added,
“An aircraft that is in long-term parking requires a defined programme of maintenance checks and inspections that are repeated over a regular cycle to ensure it’s preserved in tip-top condition. When it comes to reactivating the aircraft, a rigorous series of checks and inspections must first be accomplished to ensure the aircraft is safe to ferry back from its overseas parking facility. The aircraft then needs to undergo a further series of detailed checks and inspections as part of its scheduled hangar maintenance check.
“It was truly a team effort that required the support of many departments within the airline as well as key partners including Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering Company (HAECO), Boeing and Airbus, and the local service provider in Alice Springs, Asia Pacific Aircraft Storage (APAS). To manage this body of work across an unprecedented number of aircraft was an incredible achievement by the team, of which I am immensely proud.”
Upon arrival in Alice Springs, each aircraft that was long-term parked underwent a 14-day preservation check, followed by a repeating series of periodic inspections and checks. During the storage period, over 16,000 periodic checks were performed, encompassing a total of 800,000 labor hours. Additionally, more that 40,000 parts and special equipment items were shipped from Hong Kong to support the Alice Springs operation, and the carrier’s onsite Quality Assurance team conducted over 2,000 audits.
Source: Cathay Pacific
コメント