Cathay Pacific plans to offer more nonstop flights to Brisbane over summer through de-linking its four times weekly Hong Kong-Cairns-Brisbane service.
Under the new schedule to operate from October 2017 to March 2018, Cathay will fly nonstop between Cairns and Hong Kong three times a week, while the Brisbane-Hong Kong route will be served with 11 weekly nonstop flights.
Currently, the oneworld alliance member flies Brisbane-Hong Kong daily and operates four Hong Kong-Cairns-Brisbane-Cairns-Hong Kong services a week.
Cathay general manager for southwest Pacific Nelson Chin said the schedule change was in response to growing demand for leisure and business travel.
Further, the new Cairns services will be retimed to offer shorter connections to Asia and beyond via Cathay’s Hong Kong hub.
The move to have nonstop flights to Cairns comes as Singapore Airlines’ regional wing SilkAir prepares to boost its schedule from Cairns to Singapore later in 2017.
SilkAir de-linked its three times a week Singapore-Darwin- Cairns-Singapore flight in May 2016, a year after the airline’s inaugural service touched down in North Queensland.
The airline plans to increase Cairns to four flights a week from June, while a fifth weekly service will be added for some peak months. All flights are operated with Boeing 737-800 narrowbodies and offer connections to Asia and Europe via SilkAir’s Singapore hub.
Hong Kong Airlines, which is part of Virgin Australia shareholder HNA Group’s stable of airlines, is also on the Hong Kong-Cairns route.
Other long-haul destinations from Cairns included Osaka Kansai and Tokyo Narita (Jetstar) and Manila (Philippine Airlines), as well as seasonal services to Guangzhou (China Southern), Seoul Incheon (Jin Air) and Shanghai (China Eastern).
Flight Number/Routing |
Days of operation |
Time of departure |
Time of arrival |
|
CX146 Cairns-Hong Kong |
Thursday, Saturday, Sunday |
08:05 |
13:20 |
|
CX103 Hong Kong-Cairns |
Wednesday, Friday, Saturday |
21:25 |
06:35+1 |
|
CX150 Brisbane-Hong Kong |
Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday |
TBC |
TBC |
|
CX155 Hong Kong-Brisbane |
Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Sunday |
TBC |
TBC |
|
CX156 Hong Kong-Brisbane |
Daily |
12:35 |
23:15 |
|
CX157 Brisbane-Hong Kong |
Daily |
00:45 |
07:25 |
