Cathay Pacific has been slow to add back capacity post-pandemic, given the extent to which the airline shrunk, with quite a few planes being retired. That’s why it’s noteworthy that the airline has announced two new long haul routes today, which will operate as of next summer.
Continue reading: Cathay Pacific Adding Brussels & Munich Flights
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Interesting that both are to LH hubs. Could CX be looking to expand their partnership with them?
Any plans to try out their A321neo as well as Aria Suites anytime soon? I believe the neo is the only a/c in their fleet you haven't been on.
Very likely, back when BRU launched the 1st time CX added codeshares to places like Lyon and Toulouse
A321neo is a pretty boring 2-2 narrow body regional product, but Aria Suites? That would be fun
CX flew to BRU previously. My instinct tells me Cathay will exit OW and enter Star Alliance, in the near future, an Singapore Airlines will exit Star Alliance and join OW. Just a hunch.
Not surpassing to see Munich being launched. CX & Lufthansa have a joint venture on flights between some parts of Europe and all the way to Australia.
And Singapore Airlines will merge with Qantas. It makes complete business sense!! You heard it here first. //as if//
> "I just wish the airline also added more flights to the United States."
Which is not happening without a joint venture.
A three way joint business venture between AA, CX, and JL would be very powerful. Throw Starlux (JX) into there too for a large and comprehensive Intra-Asia and TPAC network.
So, what's stopping them?
Before someone mentions the "Lack of Open Skies Agreement!" Well yes true, but why do you think they lack one in the first place?
CX has effectively written the Hong Kong bilaterals for a long time. They agree to a JV, Open Skies is signed, JV formed. It's that simple.
Crazy idea, but I figured I would throw it out there.
eh I don’t think a JV is as much of a challenge as the geography - CX has to shift to connecting traffic for US travel with decline of HKG-US ties. Even though they do a ton of Chinese transit business, most destinations require backtracking. So more build out of SEA, India, etc. which is highly competitive and low-yield
It’s surprising to me how much frequency CX already has to US given geopolitical tensions. 3x JFK, 2x SFO/LAX iirc. I’d love to see them bring back SEA and IAD but maybe not enough O&D to justify
Also I thought HKG-USA had borderline open skies anyways which CX was able to use very effectively to transit Chinese passengers when the flight caps were very low? Could be misremembering
Why the hell would Singapore Airlines leave Star Alliance for OW? They just launched a joint venture with another massive Star Alliance partner in ANA this year.
US frequency looks like from late '00s-early 10's when they were much smaller with BOS and ORD thrown in. Europe is bigger as well as MXP was the only new destination launched at the time. Everything else came or resumed later such as MAN and ZRH.
It is not lack of aircraft that is constraining capacity, it is lack of crew. There are plenty of planes, just not enough pilots to fly them.