Cathay Pacific to Expand Freighter Network with New Services to Hanoi and Dhaka

Cathay Pacific Airways today announced that it will add the cities of Hanoi in Vietnam and Dhaka in Bangladesh to its freighter network with effect from 11 March.

The new flights will be operated by a B747-200F flying on a Hong Kong - Hanoi - Dhaka - Hong Kong routing every Tuesday and Thursday. The service will give its customers access to the burgeoning markets of these two fast-developing countries, at the same time helping to boost Hong Kong's position as one of the premier international airfreight hubs.

Cathay Pacific Director & General Manager Cargo Ron Mathison said: "We are pleased to be able to expand our freighter services to Hanoi and Dhaka, giving our customers the opportunity to connect from these two increasingly important markets to and from our worldwide network. This latest enhancement of our freighter services helps to highlight our commitment to further developing the Hong Kong hub."

Cathay Pacific will continue to build its freighter network and strengthen existing services in 2008. The airline recently increased its freighter services to Dallas and Atlanta in the United States and Mumbai and Delhi in India. More new destinations are in the pipeline for later in the year.

With the addition of Hanoi and Dhaka, Cathay Pacific and its sister carrier Dragonair will together carry cargo to a total of 80 destinations in Asia, the Middle East, Australasia, Europe and North America. The airlines' freighters will serve 34 destinations.

Cathay Pacific will continue to grow its wide-body freighter fleet and from May this year will take delivery of the first of six new Boeing 747-400ERF "Extended Range Freighters". It also has 10 of the advanced, fuel-efficient Boeing 747-8F freighters on firm order with delivery commencing in 2009. At the same time Cathay Pacific and Dragonair will begin a phased withdrawal of their older Boeing 747-200F/300F "Classic" freighters starting from the end of March.