Cathay Pacific leaves its comfort zone but is tiny-volume fanfare a mere marketing or LCC strategy?

Cathay Pacific says it is pleased with its seat discount programme "fanfares" that turned a year old in Oct-2013, having sold about 140,000 seats during that time. But this is an exceptionally small figure: it accounts for less than half a percent of Cathay's 2012 traffic. In comparison, AirAsia sells 140,000 seats every two days.

But strategically "fanfares" is important, and not just because it enables Cathay to clear inventory likely to go unsold. Cathay sees fanfares giving it greater relevance in the budget market, now in the limelight due to Hong Kong Express and Jetstar Hong Kong.

Fanfares, with its colourful and sometimes wacky marketing, is a brand stretch for typically reserved Cathay. Despite this, Cathay wants to expand the offering, in line with its view towards LCCs that the cheapest seats are the remaining unsold ones. But load factors are already high on the flights budget-conscious passengers want, giving doubt to this strategy.