Cathay Pacific has just announced its first new route to the United States since before the pandemic, and it’ll be the carrier’s longest route yet.
In this post:
Cathay Pacific adds Hong Kong to Dallas route
As of April 24, 2025, Cathay Pacific will launch 4x weekly flights between Hong Kong (HKG) and Dallas Fort Worth (DFW). The route will operate on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, with the following schedule:
CX898 Hong Kong to Dallas departing 4:05PM arriving 5:55PM
CX897 Dallas to Hong Kong departing 11:55PM arriving 5:05AM (+2 days)
The 8,123-mile flight is blocked at 14hr50min eastbound and 16hr10min westbound. Cathay Pacific will use an Airbus A350-1000 for the route, which is nowadays the carrier’s flagship aircraft. This 334-seat jet is in a three class layout, with 46 business class seats, 32 premium economy seats, and 256 economy seats.
This will be Cathay Pacific’s furthest route, just barely beating out the 8,072-mile flight to New York (JFK). Dallas will be Cathay Pacific’s first major gateway in the southern part of the United States.
Cathay Pacific currently operates a total of 88 weekly flights to the Americas, to seven destinations, including Boston (BOS), Chicago (ORD), Los Angeles (LAX), New York (JFK), San Francisco (SFO), Toronto (YYZ), and Vancouver (YVR).
By the spring of 2025, Cathay Pacific will operate 108 weekly flights to the Americas, with 3x daily flights to Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco, 2x daily flights to Vancouver, 13x weekly flights to Toronto, daily flights to Boston and Chicago, and 4x weekly flights to Dallas.
My take on Cathay Pacific adding Dallas service
Cathay Pacific adding flights to Dallas makes perfect sense. Dallas is a major market in and of itself, and on top of that, it’s a major American hub. Since Cathay Pacific and American both belong to oneworld, there will be plenty of connectivity opportunities.
There are some destinations in the central and southern part of the United States that can easily be served from Dallas, but not from Cathay Pacific’s other gateways, so this opens up lots of one-stop connectivity.
The interesting backstory here is that American flew the Dallas to Hong Kong route starting in 2014, through the start of the pandemic. American ultimately abandoned Hong Kong, and has basically given up on competing in Asia, with the exception of Tokyo service, in conjunction with joint venture partner Japan Airlines.
It’s clear that there wasn’t enough demand in the Hong Kong to Dallas market for both airlines, and with it being clear that American doesn’t plan to resume this route, Cathay Pacific is now going for it.
For what it’s worth, while American and Cathay Pacific have a codeshare agreement and belong to the same alliance, they don’t have a joint venture. This means that the airlines can’t coordinate their schedules, meaning that Cathay Pacific’s new route isn’t some sort of joint decision (at least officially).
What I find most noteworthy is that Cathay Pacific used to fly to Seattle (SEA) and Washington (IAD), but suspended those routes around the pandemic. So rather than resuming those routes, the airline is instead adding service to a new airport. That’s logical enough, when you look at the overall evolution of capacity and demand, plus Cathay Pacific’s limited aircraft availability, especially with Boeing 777X delays.
Bottom line
As of April 2025, Cathay Pacific will launch a new 4x weekly service between Hong Kong and Dallas. This will be Cathay Pacific’s first time flying to Dallas, though it’s a route that American used to fly, but ultimately terminated. This seems like a logical addition for the carrier, given the size of the Dallas market, plus connectivity. However, it’s probably not great news in terms of the prospect of Seattle or Washington flights returning.
What do you make of Cathay Pacific adding flights to Dallas?
Nice to see more and more non-AA airlines adding service to DFW. Hope to see others join in, like Aer Lingus, Air India, etc.
The IAD to HKG was short lived. I think it cancelled just pre-Covid. Departed IAD at 1:30am - limited demand.
Back to basics: I would never travel to (or even through) Hong Kong, because HK is now run by the CCP, and I value my life. But for all of you giddily naive globetrotters, be my guest!
It wont be long before the route becomes daily.
Filling in the gap left by AA. This is a welcome development.
CX is starting service to DFW. Not Dallas where Love Field Airport is located.
DFW is located in Fort Worth (Irving suburb) not in Dallas. Please get the geography correct.
Nobody cares.
Ben makes a good point that it is interesting that DFW is coming before SEA/IAD return (if ever?).
The route is logical enough and hopefully quells some of the rumors about them exiting oneworld.
Hopefully Cathay does not open up award inventory to AAdvantage members.
The fewer entitled “everything is about me” Americans in the Hong Kong lounges the better.
You say this as if Americans don't have tons of point currencies that they can transfer to Asia Miles! One additional route to the US- at 4x weekly especially- isn't going to change the number of Americans in their lounges. AAdvantage award space or not.
Source: an American who enjoyed the Pier after booking a flight using CX's Asia Miles
As an EXTREMELY flatulent American, I'm tempted to agree.
Happy to see yet another OneWorld partner come to my home airport DFW! Only a few more left to make it the full family!
Royal Air Maroc and Royal Jordanian? It’d be nice to see the royalties in Texas
Exciting times, I'll definitely make use of and hope the newly added service proves beneficial to both carriers. DFW and Austin have sizeable southeast Asian populations and figured it was only a matter of time, but presumed it wouldn't happen until the new International terminal (F) was added to DFW. With Starlux also planning to join Oneworld next year, I'd love to see both carriers collaborate to offer 7X or more weekly service to SE...
Exciting times, I'll definitely make use of and hope the newly added service proves beneficial to both carriers. DFW and Austin have sizeable southeast Asian populations and figured it was only a matter of time, but presumed it wouldn't happen until the new International terminal (F) was added to DFW. With Starlux also planning to join Oneworld next year, I'd love to see both carriers collaborate to offer 7X or more weekly service to SE Asia and elevate service level offerings to Asia. Both HKG and TPE are great connection hubs and shave a good amount of time in getting to Singapore, Bali, Thailand, Philippines, etc.
The new Terminal will not be International AT ALL. F won't even have a it's own security house or drive up/drop off much less customs. The new Terminal will have to be accessed via the tram from the other 5 Terminals and is expected to hold Southwest expansion from LOVE Field and ULCC's/LCC's. Terminal A & C will be completely rebuilt with "piers" added to them both to expand each by 9 gates. Maybe some...
The new Terminal will not be International AT ALL. F won't even have a it's own security house or drive up/drop off much less customs. The new Terminal will have to be accessed via the tram from the other 5 Terminals and is expected to hold Southwest expansion from LOVE Field and ULCC's/LCC's. Terminal A & C will be completely rebuilt with "piers" added to them both to expand each by 9 gates. Maybe some Caribbean/Mexico/Central America/Canada flights from those A/C/E but Terminal D will stay the main International Terminal.
A point of clarity for those not familiar... If the new F terminal includes international it will be an additional int'l terminal supplementing the existing int'l terminal D.
Starlux is not going to join Oneworld, no way Cathay / JAL will agree
It won’t be JX because BR already did the test flights, 77W TBA.
To be fair, American didn't have the right aircraft for DFW-HKG even before Russian airspace restrictions. They made the flight work before with very lightly configured 777Ws. They have added seats to the plane (or are doing it) while Russian airspace restrictions add even more time to flights that sometimes hit over 17 hours.
LAX-HKG is too competitive esp. considering that AA and CX don't have a joint venture so competed among themselves.
UA...
To be fair, American didn't have the right aircraft for DFW-HKG even before Russian airspace restrictions. They made the flight work before with very lightly configured 777Ws. They have added seats to the plane (or are doing it) while Russian airspace restrictions add even more time to flights that sometimes hit over 17 hours.
LAX-HKG is too competitive esp. considering that AA and CX don't have a joint venture so competed among themselves.
UA has jumped all over LAX and SFO to HKG to make sure no one gets in to California to HKG - but there are clearly other markets that make sense.
The A350 is simply a superior aircraft for ultra long haul operations and can operate a route like DFW-HKG as cost effectively as anything on the market.
I would bet this route will become daily not many months from now.
CX is playing it safe by funneling traffic onto its partner networks - and will likely avoid Russian airspace so AA can put its code on the flight.
By not restarting SEA-HKG, CX is leaving the door wide open for DL
Can you see HA/AS or CX doing HKG-HNL once HA gets in?
HNL is a destination market and I don't think it is high on the list of destinations from HKG. It is more of a destination from NE Asia so even connections at HKG don't make a lot of sense.
“ Can you see HA/AS or CX doing HKG-HNL once HA gets in?”
Tim can’t see anything positive outside of Delta’s world dominance. I foresee a SEA-HKG before HNL-HKG from HA/AS, but it’s a long shot.
The only thing I agree with is that CX will likely expand to Daily flights within 6 months of launching.
Tim do you not remember when DL gave up SEA-HKG in 2018?? Before CX even joined the market? What do you think has changed now with Hong Kong in a weaker spot economically
DL flew it on a 332 which was less efficient and smaller and pulled out when the market was failing.
DL may or may not restart HKG but if they can slug it out with 3 Taiwanese airlines, it seems hard not to enter a market where there will be no competitor.
And capacity to HKG overall is lower; the market is smaller but UA has done quite well in HKG.
There simply is nothing...
DL flew it on a 332 which was less efficient and smaller and pulled out when the market was failing.
DL may or may not restart HKG but if they can slug it out with 3 Taiwanese airlines, it seems hard not to enter a market where there will be no competitor.
And capacity to HKG overall is lower; the market is smaller but UA has done quite well in HKG.
There simply is nothing that allows UA to do well in HKG that prevents other carriers from succeeding as well.
It is more insightful that AA hasn't been able to figure out a way to serve HKG when they have an alliance partner there - even outside of a JV
There is a pretty major reason why United can succeed to Hong Kong and other US airlines can't - SFO is the largest station for O&D demand to Hong Kong. Pre-COVID, the largest mainland APAC markets (until Jan-Sept 2019) were:
1. LAX-ICN - 1,091,113
2. SFO-HKG - 1,045,964
3. LAX-TPE - 1,011,489
4. LAX-HKG - 1,001,436
5. LAX-SYD - 918,232
6. SFO-TPE - 898,017
7. LAX-NRT - 878,144 (+LAX-HND...
There is a pretty major reason why United can succeed to Hong Kong and other US airlines can't - SFO is the largest station for O&D demand to Hong Kong. Pre-COVID, the largest mainland APAC markets (until Jan-Sept 2019) were:
1. LAX-ICN - 1,091,113
2. SFO-HKG - 1,045,964
3. LAX-TPE - 1,011,489
4. LAX-HKG - 1,001,436
5. LAX-SYD - 918,232
6. SFO-TPE - 898,017
7. LAX-NRT - 878,144 (+LAX-HND w/ 234,158)
8. LAX-PVG - 822,517
9. JFK-ICN - 690,404
10. SFO-ICN - 677,909
Most of those markets are competitive w/ Asian carriers that will have a better product and much lower labor costs than the US3 - this will likely never change and is why outside of slot-constrained airports you see very little East Coast - Pacific flights.
However, United happens to have a fortress hub at the 2nd biggest airport for demand to Asia-Pacific while also being the largest US carrier to the Pacific at the largest airport for demand to Asia-Pacific. No other airline has that which is why United will remain by far the dominant carrier to the Pacific (and holds most of the lucrative tech contracts / travel for Asia - West Coast). Seattle for reference is ~10% of SFO's or LAX's demand - it's just nowhere close.
Given its strong network across Asia, it's very unlikely Delta and American can compete successfully (and they know that which is why American pulled out of most APAC from LAX and Delta decided to pull out of LAX-PVG and not even attempt HKG).
"UA has jumped all over LAX and SFO to HKG to make sure no one gets in to California to HKG"
More to do with United not being able to operate to Hong Kong from any of its east coast nor midwest hubs, due to Russian closures and the 787-9 being the longest ranged plane that they have, than with any desire to protect California.
"There simply is nothing that allows UA to do well...
"UA has jumped all over LAX and SFO to HKG to make sure no one gets in to California to HKG"
More to do with United not being able to operate to Hong Kong from any of its east coast nor midwest hubs, due to Russian closures and the 787-9 being the longest ranged plane that they have, than with any desire to protect California.
"There simply is nothing that allows UA to do well in HKG that prevents other carriers from succeeding as well."
Other than TRY, of course.
Delta seems scared shitless of adding a non-subsidized year-round longhaul to anything other than a partner hub, as of late.
Mini lesson of Dum Tinn terminology:
Delta aircraft with less seats: premium
Non-Delta aircraft with less seats: lightly configured
Delta aircraft with more seats: meeting extra demands
Non-Delta aircraft with more seats: not premium
Another note: Delta ended all HKG flights in October 2018, BEFORE China extradition protests in spring / summer 2019, and COVID in 2020. CX group (CPA and HK Express) has 50%+ market share at HKG for...
Mini lesson of Dum Tinn terminology:
Delta aircraft with less seats: premium
Non-Delta aircraft with less seats: lightly configured
Delta aircraft with more seats: meeting extra demands
Non-Delta aircraft with more seats: not premium
Another note: Delta ended all HKG flights in October 2018, BEFORE China extradition protests in spring / summer 2019, and COVID in 2020. CX group (CPA and HK Express) has 50%+ market share at HKG for now. What’s the point for a ST company to compete there?
4x/week makes sense due to Cathay's shortage in long-haul aircraft. DFW is not as prime a market as JFK/LAX/SFO/YYZ after all.
Yes DFW IS in fact a "Prime Market". Read a book, it's 2024. It will soon pass Chicago as the 3rd largest MSA in the country. It's also a massive hub for Asian companies, mainly Japanese, but there is a market for this as AA operated daily flights themselves from 2014 to 2020/2021.
The size of the MSA is somewhat irrelevant to how prime the market is for demand, and it's inarguable that DFW is not going to support 3x daily flights to HKG like JFK/LAX/SFO will have on CX from 2025
At least you used MSA. It's even funnier when people try to use city-proper. But as others have already said, MSA does not directly correlate to international demand. Phoenix for example, has an MSA twice the size of Vegas or Raleigh, but only has a fraction of either of their longhaul demand.
Also, Dallas-Ft.Worth metro will not be passing Chicago's metro population any time in the foreseeable future, much less "soon."
Even if you take...
At least you used MSA. It's even funnier when people try to use city-proper. But as others have already said, MSA does not directly correlate to international demand. Phoenix for example, has an MSA twice the size of Vegas or Raleigh, but only has a fraction of either of their longhaul demand.
Also, Dallas-Ft.Worth metro will not be passing Chicago's metro population any time in the foreseeable future, much less "soon."
Even if you take the entire DFW Metroplex CSA (not MSA) of 8.1 million, and compare it to the Chicagoland CSA's 9.5 million, the difference becomes even more stark. You could add the entire state of New Hampshire, to the Metroplex's CSA, and it still wouldn't top Chicagoland's population.
Now take a look at how each has changed over the past ten years and extrapolate that forward
Best way to book?
Just booked CX DFW-HKG RT for two in J with my Finnair miles (most bought on the cheap just before their conversion to Avios and transferred the balance from Capital One). 75k oneway in J.
Would have considered the current AMEX 30% transfer to BA (then transferring to Finnair).
Heads-up -- could not book via Finnair phone or PC as it would error out going to payment screen so had to call customer service. Very helpful, friendly, professional.
I think the 13X weekly below is to Toronto and not Vancouver since it appears twice?
By the spring of 2025, Cathay Pacific will operate 108 weekly flights to the Americas, with 3x daily flights to Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco, 2x daily flights to Vancouver, 13x weekly flights to Vancouver, daily flights to Boston and Chicago, and 4x weekly flights to Dallas.
@ gideyup11 -- Indeed, thank you! My apologies... fixed.
Don't think it does, but if the HKG-DFW route overflies Russian airspace, then there is no code sharing allowed with AA. In any case, this is the surest sign American is unlikely to be going back to HKG from DFW. A 4 x weekly service on CX shows there are significant limits to the opportunities.
@ shoeguy -- Yep, correct about the codesharing. I think Cathay Pacific's service from the East Coast of the US uses Russian airspace, and therefore there's no codeshare with a US airline. Meanwhile that's not the case for the West Coast flights. It seems like Dallas probably won't need to use Russian airspace.
It will need Russian airspace especially in the winter when the jetstream moves further south making it more efficient to fly further north.
but CX could choose not to go through Russian airspace and take longer to get there... if the codeshare w/ AA is worth it.
@Ben
“American ultimately abandoned Hong Kong, and has basically given up on competing in Asia, with the exception of Tokyo service”
Yet AA has service to ICN, PVG, DEL and DOH. But I guess that’s not Asian enough for you?
@ LuckyFailedGeography -- Yes, Doha and Delhi are on the Asian continent, but generally when discussed in the context of airlines, we refer to it as the Middle East and Indian Subcontinent. Even including the DEL and DOH service, American's network to Asia pales in comparison to that of United. That's just a fact. Neither American nor Delta are trying to compete with United when it comes to transpacific network. They're both just about funneling...
@ LuckyFailedGeography -- Yes, Doha and Delhi are on the Asian continent, but generally when discussed in the context of airlines, we refer to it as the Middle East and Indian Subcontinent. Even including the DEL and DOH service, American's network to Asia pales in comparison to that of United. That's just a fact. Neither American nor Delta are trying to compete with United when it comes to transpacific network. They're both just about funneling passengers through their joint venture hubs, with limited other service.
Dear Lucky that fails basic understanding of airlines.
AA is half the size of DL across the Pacific and DL is half the size of UA across the Pacific.
Despite your fixation with dots on maps, DL and UA have almost identical sizes of operations in NE Asia - Japan, Korea, China and Taiwan - other than UA's service to KIX and PEK, both of which are its two weakest Asian cities.
UA's larger size...
Dear Lucky that fails basic understanding of airlines.
AA is half the size of DL across the Pacific and DL is half the size of UA across the Pacific.
Despite your fixation with dots on maps, DL and UA have almost identical sizes of operations in NE Asia - Japan, Korea, China and Taiwan - other than UA's service to KIX and PEK, both of which are its two weakest Asian cities.
UA's larger size is due entirely to its HKG and SIN service.
AA is nowhere close to DL OR UA's size anywhere in Asia.
DL has more than competitive size in Asia with the cities it serves.
and if Ben thinks Tokyo is a joint venture hub for DL, he truly doesn't deserve to merit anyone's attention about air service.
IN fact, currently has the largest operation at HND among US airlines at any airport in Asia and HND is not a JV hub.
Turn your bias off and your brain on, Ben.
The irony of TD criticizing someone else for their bias lol
Does DL resemble what NW was back in the day in Asia? I sorely miss those bowling shoe 747s.
Never say never, but I just don't think AA will ever have a significant presence in Asia nor they desire to.
Huh? Why are you lying Tim, that's not remotely true that DL is close with United in North Asia outside of only South Korea?
Delta serves Taipei nonstop daily only from Seattle one time per day while United services it twice daily from SFO (2x larger).
Delta doesn't serve Narita at all while American serves it from Dallas while United does from Guam, Denver, Houston, LA, Newark, Saipan, and SFO. Add in service to Osaka...
Huh? Why are you lying Tim, that's not remotely true that DL is close with United in North Asia outside of only South Korea?
Delta serves Taipei nonstop daily only from Seattle one time per day while United services it twice daily from SFO (2x larger).
Delta doesn't serve Narita at all while American serves it from Dallas while United does from Guam, Denver, Houston, LA, Newark, Saipan, and SFO. Add in service to Osaka United is far larger than Delta to Tokyo and Japan overall.
United also operates 28 frequencies to mainland China vs Delta's 21 - that's 33% more. Then add in United's multiple frequencies to HK that Delta does not even serve it's not even close - United is more than 2X bigger.
add up the number of DL vs UA flights from the US to Tokyo, S. Korea, China and Taiwan.
Other than KIX and PEK, DL and UA are very similarly sized.
What UA has larger at TPE is offset by what DL has at HND and ICN.
UA"s larger size is due to HKG, MNL and SIN and other destinations outside of NE Asia.
DL's Asia network is larger from the eastern US (or anywhere east of the Rockies) which results in more revenue per flight.
Nope that is still not true - I mentioned specifically excluding South Korea, where Delta has a JV with Korean and is the largest carrier as a result.
Japan is not close - you ignored Narita in Tokyo and Osaka - Delta has 1 more slot at Haneda than United, and 2 more than American. Add in the service to just Narita (not even Osaka), United is FAR bigger in Tokyo than Delta and American...
Nope that is still not true - I mentioned specifically excluding South Korea, where Delta has a JV with Korean and is the largest carrier as a result.
Japan is not close - you ignored Narita in Tokyo and Osaka - Delta has 1 more slot at Haneda than United, and 2 more than American. Add in the service to just Narita (not even Osaka), United is FAR bigger in Tokyo than Delta and American just 1 daily flight behind.
United operates 21 frequencies to China excluding HK vs Deltas 14 and American's 7 - if that is similar then with your logic American offers similar service to mainland China as Delta. Add United's HK service, and it isn't even close.
The only things that puts Delta ahead of American in Asia Pacific is ICN due to the JV (which albeit is very financially lucrative) - outside of that the difference is 1 daily flight to Tokyo, 1 daily flight to Shanghai, and 1 daily flight to Taipei. American is closer to Delta than Delta is to United.
While we're on the subject of new routes, looks like DL is slated to start SLC-ICN this summer as well per JonNYC.
As far as I can tell CX has 11 weekly to SFO and 13 weekly to LAX and not 3 daily plus 10 to YVR
Cathay goes up to 20 weekly LAX-HKG on 01Mar25, 16 weekly SFO-HKG.
That’s still not 3x daily for either LAX or SFO like the post claimed
A few months ago while sitting at the DFW Capital One lounge I saw a small non-cargo Cathay Pacific plane taxi by. Was wondering, hoping something was going on. Great!
Peter, CP has been flying cargo to DFW for years and years, all throughout the pandemic too. Many airlines fly strictly cargo operations on completely separate routes.
I think the 13X weekly below is to Toronto and not Vancouver since it appears twice?
By the spring of 2025, Cathay Pacific will operate 108 weekly flights to the Americas, with 3x daily flights to Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco, 2x daily flights to Vancouver, 13x weekly flights to Vancouver, daily flights to Boston and Chicago, and 4x weekly flights to Dallas.
@ Icarus -- Those numbers are from the Cathay Pacific press release, as there are some additional service increases coming (which may not have been loaded into the schedule yet). To quote Cathay Pacific:
"Cathay Pacific is also increasing frequencies on its North America passenger services in 2025, providing more choices for customers. By May, the airline will be operating 108 return flights per week. Aside from the new Dallas service, that will include...
@ Icarus -- Those numbers are from the Cathay Pacific press release, as there are some additional service increases coming (which may not have been loaded into the schedule yet). To quote Cathay Pacific:
"Cathay Pacific is also increasing frequencies on its North America passenger services in 2025, providing more choices for customers. By May, the airline will be operating 108 return flights per week. Aside from the new Dallas service, that will include three return flights per day to New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles respectively, and a daily return flight to both Boston and Chicago. Cathay Pacific also continues to increase flights on its services to Canada, with two daily return flights to Vancouver and 13 weekly return flights per week to Toronto.
pretty logical decision between O&D and connectivity and look forward to taking it although i for one would like to see IAD back