HONG KONG, 12 September 2025: Cathay has been recognised in the 2025 Sustainability Awards by Airline Ratings, being named a winner in the “Full Service Carriers” category for its broad range of sustainability initiatives across its inflight and cargo operations.
Reflecting its purpose to move people forward in life, Cathay is working towards achieving net-zero carbon emissions in its operations by 2050 and transitioning towards more circular use of resources and circular solutions.
Cathay General Manager of Sustainability Grace Cheung said, “Sustainability is essential to the future of aviation. The issues are complex and can only be addressed by moving forward thoughtfully through collaboration with customers, business partners, suppliers, regulators, communities and our people.
“Only with our collective efforts can we go further together. We are honoured to be recognised for our endeavours as we continue to chart a path forward with sustainability leadership at the forefront.”
Cathay’s sustainability strategy focuses on addressing the impact of climate change through fleet modernisation, increased fuel efficiency, and the use of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), as well as the adoption of new technologies. Additionally, it aims to reduce cabin waste by promoting a more circular use of resources and implementing recycling initiatives.
Circular economy and waste management
Cathay continues to make progress in adopting more circular solutions for resource use. In particular, Cathay Pacific has committed to reducing its reliance on single-use plastics (SUP), with a pledge to cut the use of passenger-facing SUP items from 7.7 pieces per passenger in 2019 to 1.5 pieces by the end of 2025. As of the end of 2024, Cathay Pacific’s SUP usage had been reduced to 2.6 pieces per passenger.
In-flight, Cathay has introduced enhanced approaches to boost the recycling of water bottles, with over 1.4 million plastic bottles by weight recycled since these enhanced measures were introduced in 2024. Meanwhile, all water bottles on outbound flights from Hong Kong are made with 100% recycled plastics (rPET) to improve the circularity of plastic use in Cathay’s operations. To further reduce plastic waste, the airline has been exploring alternative materials, such as recycled paper for wrapping headphones and blankets instead of plastic. Trials are also being conducted to examine the implementation of more reusable serviceware in the economy class cabin to minimise single-use items in-flight.
Climate action and alternative fuels
The industry widely considers SAF as the most critical lever for decarbonising aviation. Cathay launched its Corporate SAF Programme in 2022 to help accelerate the transition to SAF, enabling corporate partners to address their indirect emissions associated with air travel and airfreight services. In recent years, Cathay has successfully conducted uplifts of SAF onto its flights at both Hong Kong and other airports worldwide.
This year, Cathay has announced three new offtake or partnership agreements. This includes partnering with Sinopec to refuel some of Cathay Pacific’s flights departing from Hong Kong International Airport with blended SAF, with SK Energy for some flights departing South Korea, and with DHL Express to uplift blended SAF onto some flights operated by its express all-cargo carrier Air Hong Kong at Seoul Incheon, Tokyo Narita and Singapore Changi airports.
In addition, Cathay has joined hands with partners from across the value chain to promote the development of a supportive SAF policy at its Hong Kong hub.
For more information on Cathay’s sustainability initiatives, visit: www.cathaypacific.com.
