Cathay Pacific City, our headquarters located at Hong Kong International Airport, was completed in the middle of 1999. The new complex was another sign of our confidence in the future of Hong Kong and heralded the move into a new era for the airline.

We entered the new millennium in full stride, recording a record HK$5 billion profit in 2000. Yet in following years the airline faced some of its greatest commercial challenges including the 11 September terrorist attacks, a second Gulf War and SARS. Undaunted, we led efforts to get Hong Kong back onto its feet with the "World's Biggest Welcome" lucky draw for 10,000 free inbound tickets in the wake of 9/11 and the "We Love Hong Kong" campaign, which helped city life recover after SARS.

We strengthened Hong Kong's links to other global hubs with multiple daily services to London, Los Angeles, New York and Sydney, along with increased frequencies to other major long-haul and regional destinations. In 2002, we and DHL became joint venture partners in Air Hong Kong, which now has a fleet of eight Airbus 300 freighter aircraft and an expanding regional network for express overnight cargo deliveries.

We passed a major route development milestone in December 2003 when we resumed passenger services to Beijing. Later we commenced passenger services to Xiamen and freighter services to Shanghai. The opening of this important new chapter in our history strengthened Hong Kong's position as the predominant gateway to the Chinese Mainland.

We continued to develop our inflight product in the first half of the decade and we undertook a range of e-business initiatives to improve the passenger experience, including the creation of a range of e-services including the notiFLY flight paging service, pre-flight ordering for duty-free items and online check-in.

We have been recognised for setting the industry standard for service, winning many major awards including, in 2005, the "Airline of the Year" in the world's largest passenger poll conducted by Skytrax. The following year we were named "Airline of the Year 2006" by Air Transport World magazine. In 2006 we celebrated our 60th anniversary - and announced a development that would secure a brighter future for the Cathay Pacific Group and the Hong Kong hub as a whole.