What is your take on 2025?

2025 was a solid year. At the start, there was a lot of uncertainty and a bit of nervousness around how air cargo and trade lanes would respond to the introduction of more protectionist trade policies and the resulting geopolitical responses, but overall things have held up better than anticipated. Over the whole year, the tonnage Cathay Cargo carried increased by nine per cent compared to 2024. Our transpacific loads held up, and the fourth-quarter peak especially was more robust than anticipated. There have been challenges – for example the removal of the de minimis tariff exemption for small value packages entering the US has had an impact on e-commerce demand. But there were also opportunities we were able to capitalise on – such as the growth of air cargo demand for the critical infrastructure for datacentres alongside the “AI boom” and the continued strength of Asian manufacturing hubs – notably in Southeast Asia and Taiwan, China. So there have been forces pulling in both directions, but overall it was a satisfactory year.

How have we started this year?

Many of the forces that shaped the industry in 2025 remain. We’ve started the year with two more tariff stories. From 1 January, Mexico has put tariffs ranging from five to 50 per cent on goods produced in China and other Asian countries, and Europe is adding a €3 fee to low-value packages entering the bloc from July. Neither is positive for air cargo and the e-commerce we carry, but our business model will continue to help us be resilient. We have a strong network and we can adjust capacity across it in response to demand, as we did last year strengthening our network in Southeast Asia and adding a seasonal freighter service to Madrid for example. The ability to carry all types of specialised cargo also continues to be a differentiator for us. These higher yield cargoes, such as pharmaceutical or live animal shipments, demonstrate our customer promise and We Know How credentials. We’ve started this year as we did the last, carrying more than 50 horses from Liège for the Hong Kong International Horse Show. And I expect the demand for air cargo for technology products being manufactured in Asia – such as server racks and semiconductors – to remain robust through 2026.

Other than a profitable business, what are the priorities for 2026?

We’ve introduced a refreshed strategy and in 2026 we are starting out on our next five-year plan. Our vision remains becoming the world’s best air cargo carrier so much of our focus will be on improving the experience for our customers. We will continue to enhance the digital experience of the freight forwarders we work with. For example, we are currently in the midst of rolling out significant improvements to the Manage Booking function on our website so customers can oversee and modify their bookings and make any changes they need themselves. This change has been introduced in Taiwan and Southwest Pacific already and will progressively be rolled out across the rest of our network. We will continue to develop cathaycargo.com so it becomes a one-stop shop for customers and so it is easier for them to work with Cathay Cargo. We’ll also keep developing digital systems and adopting AI to ensure we optimise how we use data and become ever more responsive to market trends and customer needs to drive our service excellence.

We’re continuing to focus on the intermodal links to the Greater Bay Area (GBA) and especially on developing the market for inbound cargo. In the fourth quarter of last year weinaugurated the Air-Land Fresh Lane for perishable imports into the GBA. The GBA is a big consumer market and the through air waybill to Zhuhai simplifies and expedites cross-border import processes. A highlight last year was the 150 tonnes of Chilean cherries we flew to Hong Kong, which arrived here early in the morning and were being sold in the wholesale markets in the GBA the same evening. We’ll see more cherries, this time from Tasmania, arriving before Chinese New Year. The potential for perishable shipments into the GBA is huge and we’ll continue to develop these links.

We’re also looking at intermodal connectivity across our network and beyond. We are just about to announce our new trucking partner in Europe. Again, this is about improving our customer proposition, making it easier to sell from and to places we don’t fly by extending our network reach.

Sustainability will remain a focus and we’ll continue to seek partners for our Corporate Sustainable Aviation Fuel Programme, and this year will see the opening of a portal for customers to make SAF purchases on cathaycargo.com, which will allow customers to make smaller purchases.

So there is a lot happening and a lot of positive change we are focused on delivering this year.

What about in operations?

Safety is always the starting point in everything we do at Cathay Cargo and is our number-one priority – it will always be a focus. We will continue to look for ways to drive improvements in safety performance through the intelligent use of technology – the AI-assisted screening for lithium batteries we now use at our Cathay Cargo Terminal in Hong Kong is a great example of this. We will continue to focus on operational excellence, using digitalisation to learn from, measure and improve our performance. We want to remain at the forefront of driving the industry forward, which is something we have done with IATA’s ONE Record data protocols, and alongside our own innovations such as HeavyPro, which speeds up our responsiveness for out-of-gauge shipments for customers and puts loading instructions directly into our ramp teams’ hands. We also want to ensure that the partners and suppliers we work with across the network share our ambition and focus for safety and operational excellence.

Is there anything else to look out for this year?

This year is a very special year for Cathay as it is our 80th anniversary. I’m delighted that we’ll have a special livery aircraft as part of the celebrations. One of our Boeing 747-8F freighters will be painted in the “lettuce leaf” green and white to mark the occasion. This was the livery of our first 747 freighter back in 1982 to match the passenger jumbos in the fleet then. Air freight was a crucial part of the business for our founders 80 years ago and it remains a crucial part of the business today. The Cathay Cargo team is thrilled to play our part in celebrating this meaningful milestone.

How are you settling into the job?

It’s been very busy and i feel like my feet haven’t touched the ground. But I’ve enjoyed every minute. It’s a fascinating business and there’s a lot of variety in the role in terms of the different markets and different types of products we carry for a broad customer base. One highlight for me has been meeting the Cathay Cargo team – both here in Hong Kong but I’ve also been travelling around the network to meet my global colleagues. Cathay Cargo has a unique spirit and culture and there is a real sense of pride we all have in working here. It’s also been a real pleasure to meet many of our most important customers and thank them for their support. Our commitment to them is that we’ll continue to focus relentlessly on ensuring they have an excellent experience when they entrust us with their cargo, and we’ll continue to drive further improvements. Even after the progress of the past five years, there’s a lot of opportunity to drive positive change not only for our business but also to leverage our leadership position to drive change in the industry.