Cathay Pacific

Cathay Pacific Airways Limited (國泰航空有限公司 Pinyin (in Mandarin Chinese):Guótài Hángkōng Yŏuxiàn Gōngsī, abbreviated 國泰) Template:Sehk is an Asian commercial airline based in Hong Kong. Their hub is in Hong Kong International Airport, or "Chek Lap Kok International Airport". Kai Tak International Airport was used before Chek Lap Kok was built.

The company flies around a million passengers a month to sixty-two destinations and carries around 80,000 tonnes of cargo through AHK (Air Hong Kong). In 2004 the airline had a turnover of HK$ 39,065 million and made a profit of HK$ 4,417 million. The operating fleet numbers 89 aircraft, a mixture of Airbus and Boeing aircraft, and employs 15,416 people (2004).

Missing image Cathay.b747-400.b-hud.arp.jpg Cathay Pacific Boeing 747-400

Missing image Cathay.b747-400.b-hud.cleaning.arp.jpg Cleaning a Cathay Pacific Boeing 747-400.

Contents

1 Code Data 2 History 3 Awards 4 Onboard services 4.1 Entertainment 5 Cathay Pacific Network 6 Fleet 7 See also 8 External Links

Code Data

• IATA Code: CX
• ICAO Code: CPA
• Callsign: Cathay

History

Cathay Pacific Airways was founded in Shanghai on September 24, 1946 by an American and an Australian, Roy Farrell and Sydney de Kantzow, both ex-air force. However, the name of the airline, according to legend, was conceived by Farrell and some foreign correspondents at the bar of the Manila Hotel. They had a single Douglas C-47. The company initially flew routes between Hong Kong, Sydney, Manila, Singapore, Shanghai, and Guangzhou, while scheduled service was limited to Manila, Singapore and Bangkok only. In 1948 Butterfield & Swires took a minority stake in the airline and soon came to have complete control over the day-to-day management, later acquiring 52% of Cathay Pacific. The airline is still part of the Swire Group through Swire Pacific.

The airline prospered into the 1960s, buying rival Hong Kong Airways in 1959, recording double digit growth until 1967, acquiring its first jet engined aircraft (Convair 880) and beginning international routes to airports in Japan. In 1966 the airline had carried a million passengers. Expansion continued throughout the 1970s and especially the 1980s, when an industry-wide boom encouraged route growth to many European centres and Cathay Pacific went public in 1986. The company was hurt by the Asian recession of the late 1990s, undergoing a reorganization and developing a new identity.

In 1996 the Chinese CITIC bought a 25% stake in Cathay Pacific. The Swire Group holding was reduced to 44% as two other Chinese companies, CNAC and CTS also bought substantial holdings.

Awards

Skytrax

• One of the four 5-star airlines Source (http://www.airlinequality.com/StarRanking/5star.htm)
• Skytrax World's Best Airline Lounge Award 2005 Source (http://www.airlinequality.com/2005/lounge-05.htm)
• Skytrax World's Best Airline Award 2003 and 2005 Source (http://www.airlinequality.com/2005/airline-05-press.htm)
• Cathay Pacific's home base at Hong Kong International Airport was voted the world's best airport in 2005 for the fifth year straight Source (http://www.airlinequality.com/2005/airport-05-ent.htm)

Cathay Pacific was recently named the Best Overall Airline in the world by passengers surveyed. Source (http://money.cnn.com/2005/06/02/pf/goodlife/best_airlines/index.htm)

Onboard services

Entertainment

Entertainment system of Cathay Pacific is called StudioCX.

Personal Television (PTV) are available in all seats including Economy Class when you are flying on all flights of Cathay Pacific, and you can select from more than 20 different video channels in all classes and 10 interactive games on all long-haul flights.

AVOD (Audio/Video On Demand) service is available for all First and Business Class passengers on all long-haul flights.

StudioCX provides many programmes and films mainly in Cantonese and English with some programmes in Mandarin and Japanese. On selected routes there are also many English-language movies with alternative soundtracks in a broad range of European and Asian languages.

Cathay Pacific Network

see Cathay Pacific destinations

Cathay Pacific Cargo has launched daily freighter services from Hong Kong to Shanghai using Boeing 747-200F aircraft, making it the second mainland China city served after it resumed passenger services to Beijing in December 2004, after a 13 year break (ref: Airliner World, March 2005).

Also, Cathay Pacific has started to codeshare on France SNCF TGV Trains from Aéroport Charles-de-Gaulle TGV Station to Bordeaux, Lille, Lyon, Marseille, Montpellier, Nantes and St-Pierre des Corps / Tours.

Fleet

Cathay Pacific's aircraft fleet of 86 planes are fitted with 3 classes of service (First, Business, and Economy) for long-haul flights, and 2 classes of service (Regional Business and Economy) for short-haul flights.

Current fleet by aircraft size
(as of 7 February 2005)

Aircraft	In Operation	Seat Configuration	Notes
Airbus A330-300	18	J44/Y267(311)
Airbus A330-333	5	P8/J32/Y211(251)	With New Business Class
Airbus A340-300 (34C)	5	P8/J30/Y205(243)	With New Business Class
Airbus A340-300 (34D)	10	J30/Y257(287)
Airbus A340-600	3	P8/J60/Y218(286)	With New Business Class
Boeing 747-200F	6	-
Boeing 747-400	15	P12/J47/Y324(383)
Boeing 747-400 Premium	10	P12/J65/Y268(345)
Boeing 747-400F	5	-
Boeing 777-200	5	J45/Y291(336)
Boeing 777-300	10	J59/Y323(382)

Besides, Cathay Pacific is considering to order new long-haul aircrafts. Airbus is negotiating with Cathay Pacific to order 6 to 10 A380s now. Expected to see the order in the second-half of 2005. Cathay Pacific will use the A380s on high-demanded routes such as Hong Kong to London.

See also

• List of Hong Kong companies

External Links

Template:Commons

• Cathay Pacific (http://www.cathaypacific.com/)
• Cathay Pacific Fleet Detail (http://www.planemad.net/Airline/HK/Cathay_Pacific_Airways_(CX_CPA)/Fleet.htm?show=all)
• Cathay Pacific Passenger Opinions (http://www.airlinequality.com/Forum/cathay.htm)

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