Cathay Transforms Global Network and Security in Record Time with Aryaka Unified SASE as a Service
Airlines 
Large Enterprise
What you will learn?
Modernizing the network and security for one of the world’s leading airlines is a massive undertaking. With dozens of partners, strict compliance demands, legacy WAN contracts, separated network and security controls, and performance-critical cloud apps like Amadeus and CHAMP, transformation would typically take years.
But the combination of Cathay’s and Aryaka’s collaborative and technically skilled teams were able to transform the network in record time.
Leveraging Aryaka’s Unified SASE as a Service, Cathay consolidated a sprawling global WAN into a unified, high-performance, cloud-first platform — all while achieving near-zero downtime, unprecedented agility, and a simplified operational model with a single pane of glass view across both network and security.
Executive Summary
Deployment Timeline: Feb 2024-May 2025
Customer Profile
About Cathay Pacific Airways:
Founded in 1946, Cathay Pacific Airways Hong Kong’s flagship carrier and one of the world’s top 3 airlines, Cathay Pacific Airways flies passengers and cargo to more than 100 destinations worldwide directly or through its subsidiaries.
Business Drivers
- Transform traditional WAN network to converged networking & security Unified SASE solution
- Network digitalization with high performance through Cloud migration ambitions
- Security posture enhancement by deploying ZTNA
- Need for highly reliable and predictable performance
- Flexible & On Demand increment / decrease of network bandwidth
Business Challenges
- High WAN Costs & Complexity
Expensive & low bandwidth legacy WAN network - Need for Increased Agility in Onboarding New Sites
Longer lead time for circuit delivery & Site installation - Network Management of Self-Managed sites
- Direct coordination with the ISP for circuit issue. Dedicated resources to coordinate in 24*7 environment
- Management of third-party devices (Peplink) without contractual support engagement model
- Cloud Connectivity through Data Centre
Amadeus & CHAMP performance issues, latency spikes, packet loss. - Decentralised Security Stack
Multiple point solutions (VPN, FW, Airport sites & Self-Managed sites) causing management overhead. - Provisioning and Troubleshooting
Long change windows; lack of network visibility. - Single Plane Management Portal
Sites managed & maintained by different vendors; lack of centralized monitoring
Objectives
Network
Simplification
Security
Transformation
Predictable
Performance
Operational
Agility
Solution Overview
- SD-WAN: Dynamic path selection, built-in WAN optimization
- ZTNA: Identity-based micro-segmentation
- NGFW: Inline threat prevention and data protection
- Unified Orchestration: Single-pane management portal
- On-premises ANAPs: at Data Centre + 166 of branch sites
- Aryaka PoPs: delivering global backhaul & optimization
- Cloud On-ramp: Amadeus & CHAMP
What Could Have Gone Wrong – And How Aryaka Made It Work
Problem
- Slow browsing, timeouts, and poor cloud access in remote/global offices.
- Centralized DNS routing caused high latency and bandwidth use
Solution
- Deployed Split DNS (Conditional Forwarding)
- Internal domains resolved via central servers; public domains resolved locally using regional resolvers
Technical Benefits
- Huge latency reduction for DNS lookups
- WAN traffic reduction by eliminating unnecessary backhaul
- Increased resiliency with local DNS redundancy
- Faster regional content delivery
Business Impact
- Improved user experience and productivity
- Cost savings from reduced bandwidth upgrades.
- Scalability for new remote offices without DNS bottlenecks.
Implementation & Timeline
Phase
Activities
Duration
Owner
Discovery & Design
Network assessment, security policy mapping
45 Days
Professional Services
Pilot & POC
Proof-of-Concept at select sites
3 weeks
Solutions Team
Full Rollout
ANAP installs, policy deployment, cutover
65 weeks
Delivery & NOC
Post-Go-Live Support
Optimization tuning, 24×7 monitoring handover
1 week
Support & CS
“Aryaka’s Unified SASE solution and managed services will support Cathay’s growth as network demand increases, while allowing us to remain agile and secure in the process.”
Future Roadmap
- Additional Unified SASE Modules: Data Loss Prevention & CASB
- Advanced Analytics: Leverage AI-driven observability for proactive performance tuning
About Aryaka
Aryaka is the leader in delivering Unified SASE as a Service, a fully integrated solution combining networking, security, and observability. Built for the demands of Generative AI as well as today’s multi-cloud hybrid world, Aryaka enables enterprises to transform their secure networking to deliver uncompromised performance, agility, simplicity, and security. Aryaka’s flexible delivery options empower businesses to choose their preferred approach for implementation and management. Hundreds of global enterprises, including several in the Fortune 100, depend on Aryaka for their secure networking solutions. For more on Aryaka, please visit www.aryaka.com.