Wow! Cathay Pacific has a pop-up shop at Hong Kong airport – and I couldn’t resist!

In case you missed it, Cathay Pacific is celebrating its 80th birthday this year. As part of the festivities, a pop-up shop has appeared at the end of a row of check-in desks in the departures area of Hong Kong airport.

The plan is to keep it through to the end of December, so I made a note to visit when passing through recently. I ended up buying more than I had anticipated and there’s nothing wrong with that!

Browsing the pop-up shop!

I arrived from Sydney in the afternoon and had some time to kill before taking my onwards Etihad flight. The pop-up shop was very busy, with a number of people browsing. It’s not a large space at all, so it took a little while to see everything.

For fans of Cathay Pacific, there is something for everyone. There were plenty of model aircraft in the 80th anniversary livery, Passport wallets, luggage tags and the like. There are also some more unusual items like a full Mahjong set!

Shut up and take my money!

The reason I was there was for the uniform keychain bears. They looked so cute in the advertisements that I wanted one. When I arrived at the store, a sign noted these were 50% off if you had a Cathay Pacific boarding pass. As the lady serving me said, “That means you can get two for the price of one” – and so I did!

You can’t see which one you get, but when I unboxed them, I had a pilot and the one above in the blue uniform from the 1950s. They’re a very cool thing. The other item which I spotted were the upcycled Cathay Pacific cushions. These appeared back in 2021 for the 75th anniversary and are made of old uniforms. I’ve wanted one of these since they came out, so I bought one. That plus the keychain meant I spent enough to qualify for a free luggage tag so I received one of those too. Once packed, I sauntered off happily to Etihad check-in. But then I thought, “I can’t just have one cushion, I’ll need two!” – so back I went and purchased a second one. Why not!

Overall Thoughts

Now I wouldn’t put myself in the category of a Cathay Pacific fanboy or anything like that, though you’d be forgiven for thinking so. The cushions match perfectly with my couch and the logo is subtle so they just look cool. The bears, well I just wanted one, and since I could get two-for-one, why wouldn’t I do that?

I think the idea of the pop-up shop at the airport is great. Aviation geeks, travel fans and frequent flyers can all find something fun to have as a keepsake. The fact that most of the items are also really tastefully designed and are of good quality also helps. I was this close to purchasing a cabin bag as well… but managed to hold off!

What do you think of this concept? Have you visited here and bought anything? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.

Like planes? See my “Does anyone remember” series.
Flight reviews your thing? Mine are all indexed here.
Follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Images via Cathay Pacific and Jetsocome on Facebook.
Cushion via here.