Two very important pandas (VIPs) arrived in Hong Kong in September as a gift from the Chinese Mainland’s Central Government announced in July. This gift commemorates the 27th anniversary of the city’s return to Chinese sovereignty in the 75th year since the foundation of the People’s Republic of China. This was a very big deal for Hong Kong, a moment of great civic pride, and for Cathay Cargo, entrusted with their safe carriage from Sichuan to their new home at Ocean Park, a huge responsibility proudly accepted. 

Cathay Cargo had previously carried giant pandas to and from Chengdu to zoos across the world, but this was to be special for one principle reason, as Wendy Ge, Head of Cargo Chinese Mainland explains. ‘The pandas we recently carried to Hong Kong are a little different to the pandas we’ve carried to other locations around the world as part of the conservation programme,’ she says. ‘These were the third pair of pandas  gifted by the Central Government after 1997 and 2007 respectively and will spend their entire lives in Hong Kong.’

There were many moving parts to coordinate and many stakeholders, including the Hong Kong SAR Government’s Culture Sports and Tourism Board, and Ocean Park – the new home of the two VIPs, An An and Ke Ke (until their names are changed following a citywide renaming competition). The China Conservation and Research Centre for the Giant Panda in Sichuan where they lived previously was also involved, alongside Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA), and all the Cathay Cargo teams in Chengdu and Hong Kong, and their associated contractors, among many others.

The aim of the early meetings was to establish the basic requirements for the shipment. ‘After the kick-off meeting, I then relayed the information to our partners like Cathay Cargo Terminal and ground-handling company HAS,’ says Max Mak, Cargo Operation Centre Manager. ‘Then we kept in touch with everyone to ensure that the requirements for the shipment could be acted on and built into the process.’

In Chengdu, Cargo Services Manager – Chinese Mainland Ricky Jiang and Cargo Manager Angela Shan collated the requests and requirements at origin as they came in. ‘We were the primary consolidator for requests,’ says Shan. 

One of the decisions was to use the regular Boeing 747 freighter from Chengdu for the two-hour flight rather than a passenger aircraft, which is more compact beneath the cabin. But as Mak explains, for the arrival to coincide with a plane-side reception ceremony, it would be best to adjust the schedule so that it arrived later in the morning at a more convenient time for the human dignitaries rather than the early hours. This required some coordination with the Chinese Mainland aviation regulator for slots and permissions. 

Shipment customisation 

This level of customisation can be built into the requirements of live animal shipments, according to Janice Kwan, Cargo Customer Solutions Manager, who looks after the Cathay Live Animal solution. ‘This is a characteristic of these shipments, and shippers or agents might make requests on arrival, departure or even transit times for the well-being and comfort of our animal passengers,’ she says. ‘We try to accommodate as much as we can.’

Another crucial part of the shipment related to their temporary accommodation for the journey by road and air. Their travel suites were designed to meet the IATA live animal standards, and Cathay Cargo is CEIV Live Animals accredited, so conformance and welfare were to the fore. Part of the design ensured that it was easy for keepers to peek in on and monitor the VIPs’ mood through an opening on the well-ventilated accommodation, but also enclosed enough to prevent the occupants from being unnerved by the sights of the alien environments of airports and aircraft. 

The VIP entourage

Like all good VIPs, there was also their entourage to consider. In this instance, it was four travelling veterinarians and keepers – two from Ocean Park, who had been in Sichuan getting to know their new charges, and two from the Giant Panda Research Centre who already know them well. 

During take-off and landing the four grooms travelled in the passenger seats behind the flight deck in the elevated, upper deck hump of the Boeing 747 freighter – at other times, they were free to go down to the main deck to keep an eye on the VIPs. This socialisation with new keepers is an important but not mandatory part of their quarantine experience in Hong Kong. It was also another task for Cathay Cargo’s Mak to ensure that all the correct paperwork was in place not just with customs and the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department for the pandas, but also with the aviation authorities for the entourage, something that was tackled weeks ahead of the flight to ensure that check-in and arrival would be a breeze. 

Temperature controlled

In terms of inflight experience there were requirements for both cabin temperature and catering. The flight crew was able to keep the temperature between 20-25 degrees centigrade on board, optimal for travelling giant pandas. For the road sections of their journey, the pandas travelled in their inflight accommodation in air-conditioned trucks. 

Ocean Park wanted to use their own sensor devices to track temperatures, but were recommended to place Ultra Track loggers, Cathay Cargo’s next-generation data-loggers, in the pandas’ accommodation for the whole journey, not just the flight section. ‘This was something we customised according to the needs of this particular shipment,’ says Kwan. ‘Normally, Ultra Track covers the airport-to-airport leg, but for the VIPs, we recorded more data than usual for the journey from the panda park in Sichuan all the way to Ocean Park.’ 

Ultra Track is usually deployed on pharmaceutical and perishables shipments, and this was the first time it’s been used in this way. The data showed that temperatures were maintained throughout the flight, assisted by the pilots keeping an eye on the temperature settings in the hold.

In terms of catering, pandas can be fussy eaters, and their vegetarian special menu had to be pre-arranged. To get used to life and conditions in Hong Kong’s lower latitudes, they had already been introduced to bamboo grown in Guangdong, and this was their meal on board too, along with apples as a travelling treat. And, like all good flyers, they kept hydrated with water. 

Arrival ceremony

The VIPs arrived in the quiet comfort and style their celebrity status merited, with a soft landing built into the services offered to animal passengers by Cathay Cargo. Their ceremonial arrival in front of assembled dignitaries and the media under clear blue skies went flawlessly and marked the end of months of detailed planning and rehearsals. Mak’s team had worked with the HKIA to secure two bays close to the Cathay Cargo Terminal, one for the aircraft, and the other for the human dignitaries, with space for the media to record proceedings. As the ceremony started, officials from the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department and Ocean Park boarded the aircraft to check all was in order. 

After the inspections on the VIPs by the vets and grooms, the pandas were lowered peacefully from the aircraft and towed gently to the Cathay Cargo Terminal before being loaded for the final air-conditioned Cathay Cargo-branded truck transfer to their new home under police escort. 

Director Cargo Tom Owen said: ‘We were honoured to have played our part in this historic moment for Hong Kong and Cathay Cargo and delighted that the whole process went so smoothly. This was thanks to the cooperation of various government authorities in both Hong Kong and the Chinese Mainland, as well as the experience and expertise of our cargo teams here and in Chengdu, who really lived up to our brand promise of “We Know How”.’

For now, the VIPs will undergo mandatory quarantine for a month at Ocean Park, during which time they can also acclimatise to their new surroundings and people. It is not anticipated that An An and Ke Ke will meet their adoring public until at least December.