Name: Eric Odone

Title: Vice President, Sales and Marketing, Americas

Company, city: Cathay Pacific Airways, based in San Francisco, Calif.

Number of employees: 22,000 worldwide

Recent project: Successfully launched Newark–Hong Kong daily as of March 1, 2014. Newark is Cathay Pacific’s seventh North American gateway.

First job: Reservation agent for Air France in London taking calls from Scotland. I did struggle with the Scottish accents and they also struggled with mine!

Little-known facts about you: Although I am a French National, I only lived in France for eight years of my life. I have been a plane geek since my maiden flight at age 6. It was 27 hours between Paris and New Caledonia. I have been in the airline industry all my adult life and always get a kick out of stepping onto an airplane.

Your Business

Essential business philosophy: Recruit good people that I really want to work with, set the direction clearly and then encourage team work: everything is so much easier and better when we all join forces and work together.

Best way to keep a competitive edge: Listen to customer feedback. There is just no better way. Always focus on customer benefits. Never rest on your laurels.

Yardstick of success: The ongoing growth of our North American network. In the last four years, we have increased our frequency between North America and Hong Kong from 66 to 104 weekly flights. I also love attending customer events to meet frequent travelers or partner agencies, as the feedback is always so good at all levels. And the product, of course, which is sensational.

As A Traveler

What is the most important item you take when traveling? My iPod. Music is essential to my travels as it makes any potential setbacks a lot more bearable.

How do you spend your time on board: I make sure my urgent work is done before stepping onto a Cathay Pacific flight. I then concentrate on enjoying myself, in order to be on top form when I reach my destination. It is my reward! Great Champagne, great food, lots of personal space. I also love catching up on foreign films: French, of course, but also Chinese and Indian.

What is your favorite restaurant in the world? Domnik’s Beach Shack on Benaulim Beach in Goa. The food is just delicious; so fresh, wholesome and unpretentious.

What is your favorite destination in the world? India. It has an amazing history, legends and sites; such variety of landscapes, incredible food, and wonderful people. I have been going regularly since 1991, so I have seen a lot of changes but I just love the energy. It really shakes me up and motivates me to push all my boundaries.

About Your Brand

Cathay Pacific has a significant number of Airbus and Boeing aircraft on order but no A380 or 787. Why?

Our focus has always been to deliver multiple frequencies for the convenience of our passengers, as well as to connect with our Hong Kong hub onto our 22 destinations in China and all our destinations in South East Asia. So our current fleet of fuel-efficient Boeing 777-300ER is perfect for this purpose.

Also, we are the seventh biggest cargo airline in the world and the A380 is not as suited to cargo tonnage as our existing fleet of wide-bodied aircraft.

We decided to go for the Airbus 350 instead of the Boeing 787 as it comes in three sizes, and that can help us to adapt our order to any changes in market demands. The time lag between ordering planes and having them delivered is always a challenge in our industry.

What’s on the horizon for Cathay Pacific in terms of new routes, gateways and equipment?

This year, we added Newark to our U.S. gateways and now have five daily flights between New York and Hong Kong. We also launched a fourth daily flight between Los Angeles and Hong Kong and three extra weekly frequencies out of Chicago O’Hare.

Next is the opening of Boston–Hong Kong on May 1, 2015 making it our eighth North American gateway and the only flight linking New England to Hong Kong. We are all very excited!

Cathay Pacific is investing $632 billion in cabin updates and $115 million in lounge updates. What are the highlights of the refreshed cabins and lounges?

We just completed the refresh program of our first-class cabin with changes in upholstery, color scheme and software equipment. The menu and wine list evolve constantly to best cater to our regular travelers, but the basics remain the same. Who can resist Krug Champagne, caviar or even freshly toasted bread or freshly steamed rice?

Our award-winning business class is now across all our North American flights with incredible feedback, which makes sense as it was designed with so much input from our regular travelers. It really is their product!

Our premium economy is so popular we’ve had to add extra seats out of all of our gateways. It is a distinct product with priority check in and boarding, a comfy seat with great recline and a footrest, an amenity kit, a welcome drink, business-class food and more. There is no comparison with any other airline to Asia.

We are also refurbishing our entire medium-haul fleet across all cabins to make sure we can deliver a superior product end to end.

We are investing heavily in our lounges. [Plans include] an extension to our wonderful lounge in San Francisco, a brand new lounge in Chicago and, of course, the final completion of our oneworld lounge at Tom Bradley International in Los Angeles.

We have also opened a new lounge in Hong Kong, called “The Bridge,” which was an instant hit and we are refurbishing The Pier, as well as upgrading the first-class restaurant in The Wing.

Last but not least, we are getting ready to welcome the A350-900 into our fleet in Q1 2015, which will bring some exciting new product features.

Why should a U.S. business traveler choose Cathay Pacific over other carriers operating the same route?

We have the most frequencies to Hong Kong out of all our North American gateways, offering business travelers flexibility including the choice of a day or night flight. We even offer a choice of six different lounges in the Hong Kong airport.

It is also important to remember that multiple frequencies out of North America also create multiple options to the final destination. With six daily flights between Hong Kong and Singapore, the connecting options are also increased. Our focus is also very much on autonomy across all cabins — from dinner on demand in the premium cabins, to power supply in every seat in every cabin, video on demand with over 100 movies, 888 music CDs, complete seasons of hit TV series, as well as snacks in between meals in all four cabins, all at no extra cost.

Hong Kong International is a very accessible airport (23 minutes by fast train into town) and is a very easy airport to connect through (and my wife loves the shopping too!).

As the world of aviation product becomes commoditized very quickly, it would be a mistake to focus too much on just the seats and food.What will always set CX apart is its identity, a subtle blend of both European and Asian heritage. This reflects the essence of Hong Kong and translates into an amazing service that is both Western and Asian, assertive and attentive, friendly and efficient.

Some airlines are travel providers. We aim to provide an experience.