Review of Cathay Pacific flight from Paris to Hong Kong in Economy

Introduction and routing

The genesis of this trip goes back to an invitation received end of 2019 from a Chinese friend to go with her to the Zhuhai Airshow, which is to China what the Paris Air Show is to France, although being a mostly military affair. It is biannual, like the Paris Air Show, in November of even-numbered years. But from the first days of January, 2020, I cautiously postponed the purchase of plane tickets, and quickly understood that we would not attend the 2020 edition: the Covid crisis had already started in China.
In 2022, going to China was an obstacle course, and furthermore, there was no guarantee that the Airshow would not be postponed at the last minute to a later date, and we therefore waited until 2024.

Zhuhai is to Macau what Shenzhen is to Hong Kong: one of the Special Economic Zones created in the early 80s under the leadership of Deng Xiaoping at the gates of the capitalist world, and for both, HKG is the airport of choice for long-haul destinations (CAN is also possible, but reaching Zhuhai from there is less convenient).

In January 2024, an aviation newsletter alerted me to a promotion by CX for flights Europe to all their destinations in Japan, with a possible extended stopover in HKG. That clinched the deal: we also had Japanese friends not met since the Covid crisis.
This is the resulting routing, in three trips: CDG – HKG, HKG – KIX and KIX – CDG via HKG.

Time for the OLCI comes, and bad news: the betting on the neutralization of a middle seat in the rear of the aircraft was lost because the plane was full. This was part of the game: my wife had nevertheless an aisle seat which would allow her to move around easily during the flight, and I would have a window seat that I like, even though the flight would mostly be by night .

Since this was going to be a night flight, I was not interested in paying for in-flight internet access.

Do you remember Aegean Airlines' OLCI, which cannot imagine having hundred-year-old passengers? (If the answer is no, read again this TBS – ATH report)
CX takes a much more comfortable margin, and would have welcomed without hesitation Tomiko Itooka who has just passed away at the age of 116, because its drop-down menu allows you to be 150 years old!

CDG-1 landside

Arrival at CDG-1 in a hired car. Checking-in is done by scanning your passport at one of these machines in order to obtain luggage tags…

… and BPs on very light paper as an option

This employee wearing a strict hijab hopped in to help us, but left us as soon as she heard our destination “for which she was not paid (sic)”: I guess she was there for the PAX bound for RUH.

We didn’t really need her to tag our bags and drop them off at one of those self-serve luggage drop-off machines anyway.

Going up one of the iconic tubes of Terminal 1.

The queue to exit the Schengen area was quite long for holders of European passports (and a few others), but moved quickly.

It nevertheless took us 12 minutes to get through

Long walk under the tarmac to reach the satellite

Going through the security check was quick, apart from a quick search of my carry-on luggage to take out and leaf through this dense tourist guide printed on a thick paper (a pre-Covid edition!), and, oddly enough, also examine this empty glasses box made of very light plastic.

CDG - Terminal 1 airside, non-Schengen area

Airside at last: it took us a solid 46 minutes since reaching at the luggage drop-off machines

The CDG-1 satellites now dedicated to Schengen flights have remained more or less the same since they were built in the 80s. On the other hand, the metamorphosis of these three satellites now merged into a single much larger one is spectacular

It is somewhat like a butterfly emerching from the chrysalis that a caterpillar had woven: it is simply completely different.

The CX A350-900 arrived promptly at her gate

The seats

… all equipped with type E/F power ports and type A and type C USB ports

Workstation which are probably uncomfortable due to lack of backrests

B-16737, an EVA Air 777-300ER

The new Non-Schengen Terminal 1 integrates the former satellite 4, connected by a long corridor to the new construction which replaced satellites 1 to 3.

A piano for use by the passengers is located just before the entrance to the corridor (behind)

This satellite appears to have been preserved like a museum piece in its original condition. In particular, the seats are typical 20th century design, compared to those in the rest of the terminal.

This satellite offers an excellent view of the brutalist architecture of the central building of Terminal 1

Plane spotting

Some plane spotting:
9V-SWY, a Singapore Airlines 777-300ER

EC-OIL, to date Iberia’s only A321neo

F-HTYJ, an Air France A350-900 towed to her parking point

B-20AL, a Hainan Airlines 787-9 bound for Chongqing

Decoration on a cinematic theme

Aer Lingus A321neo

HZ-AK41, a Saudia 777-300ER

YL-CSH, an airBaltic A220-300, taxies by

TC-LHA, a brand new Turkish Airlines A350-900; she had been delivered on 09/27/2024

For once, the gates for boarding by bus are not underequipped with substandard furniture: they have the same seats, equipped with power and USB sockets.

Souvenir of our recent trip to Armenia with this FlyOne Armenia A320neo

Boarding: the cabin of a Cathay Pacific A350

Boarding in economy is done by zones: an employee passes by with a sign indicating the rows (on the other side) boarding first

Fuselage shot

Door shot

The first Economy cabin

The window is correctly aligned at our row

Multi-standard power outlet under the seat

The width between armrests is comfortable, similar to that in an A320

With 28 cm from the edge of the seat to the previous seat’s back, the seat pitch is decent (to leave enough vital space when the passenger in front reclines his seat).

How much do the backrest recline? 16°, which is quite standard in a long haul aircraft

The IFE screen

The USB port to power your electronic toy can only be discovered if you lower the small tray design to hold your phone when using it to watch a video. There is also a standard 110 V / 60 Hz multi-standard power outlet under the seat, for powering a laptop.

The safety card, set in a rigid plastic protection.

Parallel effect between the sharklet of our A350 and the 787's tail at the next door

The flight is almost complete

Distribution of the bilingual English-Chinese menu (in traditional ideograms, used in Hong Kong and Taiwan, unlike in mainland China and Singapore)

N26906, a United Airlines 787-8

TC-JSG, a Turkish Airlines A321ceo

TF-ISX, an Icelandair 757-300

B-1085, an Air China A350-900

In flight

Takeoff: the fog is a few meters from the ground

But the cloud layer is not very thick

On the borders of the Marne and the Meuse, bottom right, the Grande Rouillie pond, in the forest east of Givry-en-Argonne

Beautiful modeling of the plane in the geovision

Distribution of a bottle of water for each passenger

Lunéville

Zoom on the Lunéville - Croismare (LFQC) airfield

General view

Zoom on the Quartier Lasalle, near Lunéville, which has not been used as an air base since the departure of the USAF in 1964.

The Pierre-Percée dam lake and the Lac de la Plaine, downstream from Celles-sur Plaine

The Vosges mountains will be hidden by the clouds

… and we only see the ground again on the other side of the Black Forest

Zoom on Donaueschingen

The Großer Alpsee (“Great Alpine Lake”), not all that great at 250 hectares, and Kempten in the background on the left.

Zoom out, same place

Obersthof in the foreground on the right, Sonthofen in the background on the left

The Lech Valley in Austria, before reaching Germany, just before Lake Forgen, in the background

A surprising natural Star of David, temporarily formed by remnants of snow on the reliefs overlooking Zwieselstein

Zooming out, due east from the Gepatsch Reservoir which was out of frame at the bottom

Zoom on the Gepatsch reservoir

Merano

Distribution of a small bag of peanuts and a drink (a coffee for me) one hour after takeoff. Note the embossed lining of the cup to avoid burning yourself.

Reaching the Adriatic coast at the Tagliamento estuary

Rijeka

The natural harbour at Kraljevica (to the right of the pass), where the shipyard is claimed to be the oldest in the Adriatic

Lake Lokvarsko (centre) and Lake Lepenica in the foreground

Čačak

Morava airfield (KVO)

Zoom out on Bihać - Zaječar Road E-761.

Still the E-761 with Kruševac in the center

Air to air with Skyline Express flight QU3623 (BUD – HRG) Airline, operated by SR-ULW, a 737-900 (thanks Flightradar24).

Lake Zavoj

Nišor

Arrival in Bulgaria, with a section of the A2 Sofia motorway - Varna under construction

The meal as distributed 2h10’ after takeoff

After unpacking:
Braised beet with mushroom sauce, carrot, leek and mashed potato with spring onion

High contrast air-to-air with an unquestionable Turkish Airlines aircraft

This is flight TK1752 (OSL – IST), operated by TC-JZF, a 737-800

A 57g Häagen-Dazs chocolate ice cream for dessert: it will be the same in HKG – KIX.

Lighting is dimmed after dinner is over

Sunset on the wing

Atmosphere in the aft galley…

… captured while taking advantage of my neighbors going to the toilet to do the same. The toilets are clean

View of the cabin

The geovision is displayed in Japanese; I searched through the menus but couldn't find a way to change the language. It doesn't bother me much, and I didn't call a cabin crew member to correct it. Nevertheless…
The names of Chinese and Japanese cities are often written identically in both languages, but not always, because the Chinese and Japanese did not cooperate when they simplified their ideograms after WWII : I struggled with Wuhan 武漢 which I knew to be written 武汉 in simplified Chinese. Similarly, this screen displays 重, not 重庆 in simplified Chinese, for Chongqing.

The second service is served at 10 p.m. (Paris) / 5 a.m. (Hong Kong)

“Omelette with Hollandaise sauce, chicken fillet, mixed vegetable and potato” for my wife

“Prawn congee” for me.
Were were not impressed by either hot dish

These are the shrimps

And a coffee with all that

Descent towards HKG

Dawn breaks above the clouds

Sunrise

Cabin lighting during descent

A little detour to wait for our turn to land, as revealed later by flightradar24

Under the wing, this is the HZMB (Hong Kong – Zhuhai – Macau Bridge), the structure crossing the 55 km wide Pearl River estuary, from an artificial island next to Hong Kong airport to another on opposite Macao and Zhuhai; I’ll talk about it again

One of the three cable-stayed viaducts providing a way through to ocean-going vessels

On the ground at HKG

Touchdown at 7:01 local time

The HZMB opened in 2018, but contrcution is still very active on the artificial islands of HKG and of the Hong Kong terminal of the bridge.

B-LEB, an Hong Kong Express A321ceo

B-LPT, an Hong Kong A320ceo Airlines

B-KJH, a Greater Bay Airlines 737-800

A bunch of Hong Kong Express and HK Airlines aircraft (with the red livery of the HNA group, the parent company of Hainan Airlines, one of whose aircraft I saw in CDG).

Probably N2846U, a United 777-300ER

The ceiling was quite low above Lantau Island

Arrival at the gate next to JA834A, an All Nippon Airways 787-8

Last look at the plane which brought us here

HKG, airside and landside

Walking to the root of the pier

And down to the people mover’s station

35 minutes after stopping at the gate, we were in the luggage delivery hall

And a quarter of an hour later, we were landside, here in the direction of the bus station to take the A21 bus to the center of Kowloon, more convenient for us than the Airport Express.

Thanks for reading; see you soon for the next episodes!

Bonus: looking for street art in Hong Kong

The primary purpose of this trip was the Zhuhai Air Show; for space reasons (expressed in number of pictures!), you will find it this will be in the bonus of the FR of the following flight (HKG - KIX). In the mean time, I offer you a more reduced bonus, devoted to a form of art not seen much by Hong Kong visitors.