Cathay Pacific Airways has confirmed it is in talks with Airbus about the latter’s proposal for a larger version of the A350. Cathay already has 48 A350s on order, with the first of 22 325-seat A350-900s already delivered, along with 26 366-seat A350-1000s on order. Given that Cathay already has the A350-1000 on order to ply the Hong Kong Miami route, if the configuration was changed it is likely that any new A350 would have to concentrate on the same sort of configuration offering with a longer range, so not necessarily a larger aircraft. This means the ball is in the court of Rolls Royce once again as what Cathay really seeks is an engine upgrade.
Unfortunately for Airbus and Amedeo, Cathay Pacific management have confirmed this week that they are not interested in A380s as they prefer to keep high frequency above all other considerations. This puts Cathay management thinking at odds with many other airlines who see the A380 as a real revenue driver. Could Cathay be making a long term tactical blunder with their aircraft choices? Obviously only time will tell.