Cathay Pacific to Boost Services to Paris, Shanghai and Jakarta; Reduce Fuel Surcharges

Cathay Pacific is to increase the number of flights it offers to three key destinations - Paris, Shanghai and Jakarta. The service enhancements will be introduced in the airline’s summer schedule, which comes into effect on 29 March 2009.

An additional four flights a week will be added to and from Paris - departing Hong Kong every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday - meaning the airline will provide a double-daily service to the French capital.

In another change effective from the summer schedule, Cathay Pacific will add two more flights each day to Shanghai’s Pudong International Airport, with early and late-afternoon departures from Hong Kong, taking the airline’s total to three flights daily.

For Jakarta, the existing twice-daily service from Hong Kong will be supplemented by three more flights a week, departing Tuesday, Friday and Sunday and departing from the Indonesian capital late the same day.

Cathay Pacific Director Corporate Development Ian Shiu said, “We are pleased to be able to strengthen our services to these three cities and I’m sure passengers will appreciate the additional choice and increased convenience when planning their journeys. Overall, Cathay Pacific’s capacity will grow at less than 1% this year - a significant reduction on our original plan as a result of the current financial crisis – but we will take whatever opportunities we can to strengthen those routes where demand and revenue potential remain high.”

The Hong Kong-based airline has also reduced its fuel surcharges.

The new surcharges of HK$61 (US$7.8) for short-haul services in North and South East Asia and HK$280 (US$35.9) for long-haul services will apply from 1 February for a two-month period to 31 March 2009.

The adjustments represent reductions of about 44% from the current surcharges of HK$108 (US$13.8) for short-haul services and HK$499 (US$64) for long-haul services.

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