Cathay Pacific Airways will launch four-times-weekly service on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday from its Hong Kong hub to London Gatwick Airport from 2 September 2016 subject to government approval.
Operating on the airline’s new Airbus A350-900 aircraft, the new service will complement its existing five-times-daily service to Heathrow Airport. Then it will operate 39 flights weekly between Hong Kong and London which is more than any other airline. Cathay Pacific also operates four-times-weekly flights between Hong Kong and Manchester, United Kingdom.
Gatwick is United Kingdom’s second-largest international airport and is located south of London near the town of Crawley in West Sussex.
CX 349 will depart Hong Kong at 12.55am and arrive in Gatwick (LGW) at 7.10am the same day. The return flights CX344 departs Gatwick at 12.35pm and arrives in Hong Kong the next day at 7.25 during the summer schedule. For the Winter schedule, CX 344 departs Gatwick at 11.35am and arrives in Hong Kong at 7.05am the next day.
Cathay Pacific has 22 A350-900 and 26 A350-1000 aircraft on order. It expects delivery of the first A350-900 to be delivered early 2016. It has not announced its inaugural destination yet.
The A350-900 features a refreshed Business Class cabin and the new Premium Economy Class and Economy Class seats. The first of 48 A350 XWBs to be acquired by the airline is scheduled for delivery early next year.
In Asia 11 major airlines have ordered a total of 244 aircraft out of 781 total ordered as of July this year. Cathay Pacific represents one fifth of the A350 XWB total orders. As of 30 November 2015, Airbus has received 775 A350 orders from 41 customers around the world of which 11 A350-900 been delivered.
