撮要

Cathay Pacific Airways Limited, a leading international airline providing both passenger and cargo services, had been operating under a collaborative arrangement with HATCL, the largest air cargo terminal operator in Hong Kong, since the opening of the new airport. Demand for Cathay Pacific’s air cargo handling services outgrew the terminal’s capacity of the operator. There were on-going discussions between the two partners on opening a new terminal, but no agreement had yet been reached on the service fee paid to HATCL.

As a last resort, Cathay Pacific would need to consider the possibility of building an air cargo terminal for captive use. Peter Lee, a senior executive at the airline, was put in charge of the feasibility study. Although Peter had experience in leading special projects in the past within the company, this particular one was completely different given its scale and the amount of investment involved. Perceptibly, fundamental business elements such as targeted capacity, return on investment and competition had to be included in the study. Other soft issues like management expertise future cooperative relationship with HATCL should also be studied. Peter wondered what other considerations he should include in addition. He wanted to be sure that by tackling these issues from all angles, it would allow him to come up with a recommendation to the board: whether Cathay Pacific should build its own terminal.

学习目标

Through taking charge of the project, students will experience the thought process of preparing a recommendation to the board of directors and develop their understanding in the key issues involved:
1. The key drivers for Cathay Pacific to build its own air cargo terminal
2. The decision process and financial impact of the project
3. The relationship between Cathay Pacific and the air cargo terminal
4. The importance of change management, and how to aligning people, process, and technology to ensure a smooth transition.
5. The financial implication, including a NPV calculation