Cathay around-the-world freighter service in July

Cathay Pacific Airways will launch its first around-the-world freighter service on July 9, offering its cargo customers a wider choice and at the same time helping to further develop Hong Kong's position as a leading international air cargo hub.

The airline has spent months developing the new route, which will initially be operated twice weekly, every Friday and Sunday, using a Boeing 747-400 freighter, reported the New Zealand Press Association.

The flight will leave Hong Kong and fly via Anchorage to Chicago. From there it will fly onward to Amsterdam and Dubai before returning to Hong Kong.

Cathay Pacific director, cargo, Rupert Hogg said: "We are very excited about the launch of this new freighter service which will further strengthen our cargo network and also help in the continued development of Hong Kong's air freight hub role - something to which our airline is deeply committed."

The around-the-world flight is an extension of Cathay Pacific's existing service to Chicago - the airline currently serves the city with eight flights per week. The flight from the United States to Amsterdam marks the first time for Cathay Pacific to ever operate a transatlantic service.
In total, the around-the-world flight will take 44.5 hours to operate, including ground time to uplift freight.

Cathay Pacific has been working hard to strengthen its services to and from Hong Kong in response to the recent global upswing in air freight markets, and has just announced it will strengthen its freighter route to Houston and Miami.

From July 2, the airline will fly four times weekly to Houston and five times each week to Miami.

The airline is also reinforcing its commitment to the continued development of Hong Kong as a leading international air cargo hub through the construction of its own new cargo terminal and the continued expansion of its freighter fleet.

Cathay Pacific Airways is negotiating with Boeing and Airbus to buy long-range cargo planes, which will be funded from the proceeds of its stake sale in Haeco to parent Swire Pacific.

"We're talking to Boeing about 787s and Airbus about A350s," chief executive Tony Tyler told Bloomberg.

"We have no plans at the moment to have a campaign on the A380 or on the 747-8 Intercontinental."

Swire has agreed to buy Cathay's 15 percent stake in Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering (Haeco) for US$355.8 million, pushing its total stake to 61 percent and forcing it, as a result of the takeover law, to make an unconditional cash offer of $1.2 billion for the rest of the company.

Cathay said it was seeing cargo demand pick up as consumers in North America and Europe buy high-tech products, Tyler told Reuters Insider TV.

"We are taking, for instance, high tech Apples to North America and bringing back loads of cherries," said Tyler.

IATA earlier on Monday published stunning new estimates for 2010 industry growth, saying it now expects the world's airlines to post a $2.5 billion profit. Three months ago, it had said it expected the industry to lose $2.8 billion over the year.

Asia-Pacific will be leading the charge this year, with a $2.2 billion profit, as the Asian economy excluding Japan expands nearly twice as fast as global gross domestic product (GDP), IATA said.

Cathay Pacific is one of the companies benefiting from a pickup in global trade as it generates about a third of its revenues with cargo services.

IATA hiked its estimate for 2010 cargo volume growth to 18.5 percent from 12 percent after a rebound in the first three months of this year.

Tyler also said he was confident that a planned cargo joint venture with Air China would receive regulatory approval by the end of this summer season.

Chinese media said recently that Beijing was pushing the country's three major airlines - Air China, China Eastern and China Southern - to merge their cargo operations to claw back business in a market dominated by foreign carriers.

A source familiar with the cargo talks had said that the plan could put at risk a possible joint venture of Cathay Pacific and Air China.

"We're confident that our joint venture will go ahead," Tyler told Reuters Insider TV.
(Source:www.cargonewsasia.com)