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Cathay Pacific adds two flights from Tokyo and offers refunds for tickets between Hong Kong and Japan

Additional flights from Tokyo

Cathay Pacific is mounting two extra flights from Tokyo to Hong Kong today in light of the demand for more seat capacity amidst the continued uncertainty of the situation in Japan. The airline also announced that its crew will stop staying overnight in Tokyo until further notice.

The additional services will add more than 730 seats to some 2,700 seats available on the airline’s seven daily flights from Tokyo.

“We are experiencing rapidly increasing demand from people wishing to return home to Hong Kong and elsewhere and as Hong Kong’s home carrier we will do everything possible to meet this demand,” Cathay Pacific Chief Operating Officer John Slosar said today.

“We are guided by the advisories of the relevant authorities in Japan, Hong Kong and elsewhere that currently travel to Tokyo remains safe. Events are moving very fast in Japan and we will continue to monitor the situation closely and make changes to our operations as necessary.

“The Cathay Pacific team in Japan is working day and night under very trying circumstances to keep our operation running smoothly, and we are grateful to them and our flight crews for the fantastic job they are doing.

“We have no greater priority than the safety of our passengers and crew, and this guides all of our operating decisions. However, we understand the uncertainty and concern felt by some crew and believe the decision to stop overnight stays for our crew in Tokyo is appropriate at this time,” he added.

The additional flights from Tokyo to Hong Kong today are as follows:

CX2509 Narita-HK (departs at 2150 local time, arrives at 0200+1 local time)

CX2543 Haneda-HK (departs at 2230 local time, arrives at 0245+1 local time)

The operating crew of Cathay Pacific’s seven flights daily flights to Tokyo today will either return to Hong Kong the same day or stay over in Taipei (for the flight that stops over in Taiwan before returning to Hong Kong).

Other than today’s two additional flights, Cathay Pacific will continue to operate its scheduled services to and from Tokyo, with four non-stop flights to Narita, one flight via Taipei to Narita and two flights to Haneda. Passengers travelling to Tokyo should note that there may still be disruptions to public transportation facilities to and from both airports.

Special Ticketing and Refunds

Cathay Pacific also announced that, with immediate effect, passengers holding tickets issued on or before 11 March 2011 with departures to and from Narita and Haneda in Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka, Nagoya, Sapporo and Okinawa, for travel between 11 March 2011 and 30 June 2011, will be eligible for a refund.

This is the latest in a series of measures to assist passengers since the earthquake and tsunami struck Japan last Friday. These include a free-of-charge extension of travel dates and changes to any of the Cathay Pacific Group’s 70-plus destinations.

“These passenger facilitation measures are possible because of the Group’s extensive international network that provides our customers with a good deal of flexibility and convenience,” a spokesman said.

Refunds under the arrangements announced today are applicable to all tickets regardless of fare type, including the special fares to celebrate the 100th anniversary of civil aviation in Hong Kong. The refund application should be made on or before 8 April 2011.

The rebooking/rerouting options remain available for Cathay Pacific passengers. Further details are available at http://www.cathaypacific.com/cpa/en_HK/specialupdates.

Due to the increasing number of calls to our eService Centre regarding the rebooking and rerouting of tickets for travel to Japan, a special email account WRT#[email protected] has been created for passenger enquiries on ticketing matters. Customers who have purchased their ticket through their travel agent should contact the travel agent directly.

Cathay Pacific also reminds passengers that the special one-way fare of HK$5,755 from Japan to Hong Kong is in place for those without confirmed bookings but who would like to return to Hong Kong. They should contact our reservations staff in Hong Kong on +852 2747-1888 or Japan 03-6746-1000