James, you’ve already held a few roles with Cathay Pacific. Where did you work, and how may those experiences factor into your new job as Head of Cargo Global Partnerships?
James: I joined Cathay Pacific about five years ago and have held three positions. First I spent a year with the Airline Procurement Department, where I was Procurement Manager for cabin interiors. My team worked on the Airbus A350-900 cabin, finalising procurement of the inflight entertainment systems and Wi-Fi, among other products. It was a mix of dealing with internal and external stakeholders, balancing the needs of various Cathay departments, and negotiating with suppliers.
My other two roles have been country manager jobs. The first was in Bangladesh, which is an exciting place to learn about cargo at a local level. There's a passenger service and Cathay Pacific also operates three freighters a week. Our cargo business was larger than our passenger business in Bangladesh, which is the second-largest exporter of garments globally. I was there just over a year and a half and spent a lot of time focused on cargo services, because we faced big challenges in terms of infrastructure. But I had a very skilled team who could manage those challenges very well, and the business grew dramatically.
Then I moved on to South Korea and have been the country manager there for the past three years. That is another large cargo operation – Cathay Pacific has three freighters weekly, and there’s also a daily Air Hong Kong freighter and 42 passenger bellies to fill each week. It’s a more mature market, dominated by electronics. I am lucky to work with a great team there who have been working hard to grow that business and capture a greater share of special and priority cargo.