Cathay Pacific Airways today announced that it will add a fourth daily direct flight to Los Angeles from 1 June 2014 and three additional direct flights to Chicago from 2 Aug 2014, bringing the number of flights to the Windy City to 10 a week (subject to government approval).

These additional services demonstrate Cathay Pacific's ongoing commitment to expand connectivity between Hong Kong and North America, providing more scheduling flexibility and greater customer choice.

Cathay Pacific Chief Executive John Slosar said: "North America is an important market for Cathay Pacific and we are pleased to be able to expand our services further and provide even more options for travellers. Los Angeles and Chicago are important gateway cities in the United States and we have been seeing consistently strong demand from business and leisure customers on both routes.

"Adding a morning departure from Hong Kong to Los Angeles will give passengers the option of a morning arrival into the city, with a range of connections to other cities in the US. For the Chicago flight, meanwhile, we'll be providing an additional choice of an evening departure out of Hong Kong, which will mean better connections for travellers arriving from cities around the region," Mr Slosar added.

These additional North American flights come on top of Cathay Pacific's recent announcement that it will launch a daily service to Newark from 1 March 2014. This will complement the airline's current four-times-daily service to John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) in New York. Cathay Pacific also operates two daily flights to another key US gateway, San Francisco.

The fourth Los Angeles frequency will be operated by Boeing 777-300ER aircraft, with a consistent product offering of First, Business, Premium Economy and Economy Class seats and Cathay Pacific's award-winning cabin services. Also operated by Boeing 777-300ER aircraft, all Chicago flights offer Business Class, Premium Economy Class and Economy Class products.

Details of the new flights are included in the schedule below (all times local):

LOS ANGELES (LAX) (June 2014, subject to government approval)

* Newly added flights. To be commenced on 1 June 2014.

CHICAGO (ORD) (August 2014, subject to government approval)

* Newly added flights. To be commenced on 2 August 2014.