Cathay Pacific is bringing back a fifth weekly flight between Adelaide and Hong Kong from early July.
The oneworld alliance member has been operating five flights a week on the route since December 2016, with the service operated by Airbus A330-300s due to drop back to four flights a week at the end of March 2017.
However, Cathay said it would again offer five flights a week from July 6, representing a 25 per cent increase in passenger seats as well as 15 tonnes of extra cargo capacity.
Cathay Pacific general manager for Southwest Pacific Nelson Chin said the additional frequency would offer South Australians more options for travel to Hong Kong and beyond, as well as help boost the number of overseas visitors to the state.
“We’ve not only seen increased numbers of tourists into Adelaide from mainland China, but also South Australians taking advantage of the one-stop connections via our Hong Kong hub,” Chin said in a statement.
“For example, it’s less than 23 hours to London, 13.5hrs to Beijing and Shanghai and one-stop to New York in just over 27 hours.”
In December, Cathay signed a sponsorship deal with Australian Football League club Port Adelaide, which is playing an AFL match against the Gold Coast Suns in Shanghai on Sunday May 14. It will be the first AFL match in China.
“This latest commercial partnership builds excitement for our historic game in China,” Port Adelaide chief executive officer Keith Thomas said in a statement.
Chin said the airline was thrilled to be Port Adelaide’s official international airline partner.
“Australian Football in China is something that has enormous potential, and we see a partnership with Port Adelaide as a logical fit for us to support and grow sporting, cultural and business links between Australia and Hong Kong and China,” Chin said.
“We’ve been serving Adelaide for over 20 years and this partnership really demonstrates our commitment to the city. We’re looking forward to helping stage the game in Shanghai.”
