Cathay Pacific to add five more freighter flights to Shanghai in December

Lunes 13 de noviembre de 2006 — Cathay Pacific Airways today announced a further expansion of its freighter service to and from Shanghai. From 2 December 2006 the airline will add five more flights a week - operating every Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday - taking the total to 17 flights each week. One further flight will be added on Fridays with effect from 5 January 2007. The additional flights will be operated using Boeing 747 Freighters.

The Shanghai freighter service was launched in January 2005 with a daily flight. Five flights a week were added later to carry mainly DHL express consignments using A300-600F Freighters. The latest increase in frequencies is due to continued high demand out of China’s major commercial city and will help Cathay Pacific feed more freight into its growing international network. It will also significantly enhance Hong Kong’s role as Asia’s leading air cargo hub and gateway to the Chinese Mainland.

Cathay Pacific Director & General Manager Cargo Ron Mathison said: “We are delighted to be boosting Hong Kong’s freight-hub role by adding more flights to and from Shanghai. The route has performed well since its launch and the extra flights will enable us to get further leverage on the Eastern China market as demand remains high.”

The expanded Shanghai service comes on top of the recent announcement of a new Cathay Pacific freighter service to Beijing. The twice-weekly service to China’s capital launches this Wednesday, 15 November, allowing the airline to capture a share of the important Northern China cargo market.

Cathay Pacific has significantly expanded its freighter network over the past 12 months. Dallas and Atlanta were added in late 2005, while Chennai, Toronto and Stockholm became online destinations earlier this year. The airline will expand its freighter fleet with the addition of three more Boeing 747-400BCF “Boeing Converted Freighters” in 2007 and the first of six new Boeing 747-400ERF “Extended Range Freighters” arriving in May 2008.