Cathay Pacific launches new service to Sapporo
Cathay Pacific Airways held a press conference today to kick off the launch of a new direct service between Hong Kong and the Japanese city of Sapporo starting from Sunday 2 December. The twice-weekly service operates every Thursday and Sunday. With this latest addition, the number of Cathay Pacific flights between Hong Kong and Japan will increase to 83 a week, further enhancing Hong Kong's position as Asia's leading aviation centre.
Sapporo is located on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido. Renowned for its wealth of natural and cultural attractions, it is a popular leisure destination for visitors all year round. Bookings for all Cathay Pacific flights operating from Hong Kong to Sapporo are completely full for December. Six extra sectors will be added to meet the high passenger demand during the holiday season. Between the peak season of 20 December and 6 January 2002, Sapporo alone accounts for 30% of the total number of extra sectors requested to be operated out of Hong Kong. Forward bookings to Sapporo continue to be strong with more than 5,000 bookings already recorded up to March 2002.
Cathay Pacific's Director and Chief Operating Officer Philip Chen said, "We are delighted to launch this new direct service between Hong Kong and Sapporo and are especially heartened by the high demand for this route amidst this difficult economic environment. This new service will certainly enhance our network and also help to attract more tourists from the northern region of Japan. Hong Kong has always been popular with the Japanese visitors. With this direct service, travelling between the two cities will now be more convenient and it will also help to boost tourism in Hong Kong."
Details of the new service are as follows:
| Flight |
Route
|
Departure
|
Arrival
|
Days
|
| CX580
|
Hong Kong - Sapporo
|
10:40am
|
4:05pm
|
Thu /Sun
|
| CX581
|
Sapporo - Hong Kong
|
5:20pm
|
10:05pm
|
Thu /Sun
|
Japanese routes have formed a core element of Cathay Pacific's network since the airline first began flying to the country in 1959. With the addition of Sapporo, Cathay Pacific will fly to five Japanese destinations namely Fukuoka, Nagoya, Osaka, Sapporo and Tokyo.
