Cathay Pacific adds flights, destinations in winter schedule

Cathay Pacific Airways started its 2003 winter schedule Sunday with additional services and the inclusion of six new destinations, including Beijing. This enhanced schedule reflects the airline’s commitment to strengthen Hong Kong’s position as a global aviation hub and gateway to the Chinese Mainland.

With the start of the airline’s winter schedule, services to Rome will increase from four to five a week. Melbourne will move up from 11 to 13 weekly flights and Auckland will go from 10 to 12 services a week. And from 1 December one more weekly service will operate to Johannesburg, taking it to six flights a week.

Cathay Pacific has announced that it intends to commence three weekly services to Beijing from 2 December.

The airline will also, from 1 November, extend its codeshare arrangement with American Airlines to include Nashville, New Orleans, Pittsburgh, Raleigh Durham and Tampa. Passengers will fly on “CX”-coded flights operated by oneworld partner American Airlines after flying on Cathay Pacific to Los Angeles.

This brings to 26 the number of cities in the US to which Cathay Pacific operates either direct or codeshare passenger services. With the inclusion of these new services Cathay Pacific will serve almost 90 destinations worldwide.

Cathay Pacific’s services to London have already been increased to three times daily and services to Sapporo have been enhanced to three flights a week.

Cathay Pacific Director and Chief Operating Officer Philip Chen said: “As Hong Kong’s airline, we will continue to expand our network and increase flight frequencies in order to enhance Hong Kong’s position as a global hub. The launch of services to Beijing will mark an important initial step in our efforts to strengthen Hong Kong’s ties to and status as a gateway to the Chinese Mainland.”