Cathay Pacific Airways today announced it will be the only airline to operate three-times daily to Sydney with the 31 October launch of a new early morning service that is part of an expanded new winter schedule. Overall, the airline will add 16 weekly scheduled departures out of Hong Kong, bringing total passenger services to 511 flights - further strengthening Hong Kong as a global aviation hub and the gateway to the Chinese Mainland.
With the start on 31 October of the airline’s winter schedule, passenger services to Manila will increase from 35 to 37 weekly flights and Surabaya will go from 3 to 4 services a week. Brisbane will be served daily, up from five flights a week, and two more services to Auckland will take its weekly total to 12. In all, Cathay Pacific will operate 63 passenger services per week between Hong Kong and Australia and New Zealand.
Later, from 1 December, Cathay Pacific will add two more weekly services to Dubai, taking it to 13 flights a week. Cathay Pacific serves 87 destinations for passenger services worldwide, either directly or through code shares. During the summer, Cathay Pacific launched a daily non-stop service to New York and, through code-share arrangements, services to Moscow, Madrid and Barcelona.
According to the latest visitor arrival statistics from the Hong Kong Tourism Board (“HKTB”), the Australia, New Zealand and South Pacific region represents an area of robust potential. July arrivals amounted to 41,384, representing 85.3% growth on July 2003 and 31.7% on the 2002 figure. For the first seven months of 2004, arrivals stood at 81.3% ahead of those for 2003 and 13.7% above 2002.
Cathay Pacific Director and Chief Operating Officer Philip Chen said: “A third daily flight to Sydney will put us firmly in the lead. We are offering more than 17,000 seats to Australia and New Zealand every week and 900,000 seats every year. Our expanded winter schedule further strengthens Hong Kong’s status as a global aviation hub, offering one of the strongest connections to Australia and New Zealand among major hubs, and linking them to other parts of the world via Hong Kong.”
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