Cathay pacific

Cathay Pacific (traditional Chinese: 國泰航空公司; simplified Chinese: 国泰航空公司; pinyin: Guótài Hángkōng Gōngsī; abbreviation: 國泰/国泰) is the flag carrier of the special administrative region of Hong Kong, with its headquarters and main operating base at Hong Kong International Airport. Cathay Pacific operates passenger and cargo flights to more than 200 destinations in 52 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, North America and Oceania with a wide-body fleet consisting of Airbus A330, Airbus A340, Boeing 777 and Airbus A350 aircraft. Its Dragonair subsidiary operates flights to 44 destinations in the Asia-Pacific region from its base in Hong Kong and together, the airlines carried almost 27 million passengers and more than 1.8 million tons of cargo and mail.

Cathay Pacific was founded on September 24, 1946, and in 2006 the airline celebrated its 60th anniversary. As of 2009, Cathay Pacific's largest shareholders are Swire Pacific and Air China. Conversely, Cathay Pacific is the majority shareholder of Air China.

Cathay Pacific currently holds the title of the world's 10th largest airline in terms of market capitalization. In 2010, Cathay Pacific became the largest international cargo airline, along with its hub at the Airport Hong Kong International, which is the busiest cargo airport in the world.

Cathay Pacific is a founding member of the Oneworld alliance, and its subsidiary Dragonair is an affiliate member.

It is one of only seven airlines to have achieved a five-star rating from Skytrax, along with Qatar Airways, All Nippon Airways, Hainan Airlines, Asiana Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Garuda Indonesia and Eva Air.

History

Cathay Pacific, was founded in Hong Kong on September 24, 1946 by American Roy Farrell and Australian Sydney de Kantzow, both former air force pilots and familiar with the route over the Himalaya Mountains. They each put up 1 Hong Kong dollar to register the airline. Initially based in Shanghai, they eventually moved to Hong Kong to start a new airline with Cathay Pacific. The story goes that the airline was conceived by Farrell and some foreign correspondents in the bar of the Manila Hotel. They named it Cathay, as it was an ancient name given to China, and Pacific, for Pacific Ocean, because they believed that one day they would fly across the Pacific Ocean to the United States.. On Cathay Pacific's first flight, Roy Farrell and Sydney de Kantzow flew from Hong Kong to Manila, and later to Shanghai. His only aircraft was a Douglas C-47.

The company began by flying to Manila, Bangkok, Singapore, and Shanghai, although scheduled flights were only between Manila, Singapore, and Bangkok. In 1948 Butterfield and Swire (now known as the Swire Group) bought 45% of Cathay Pacific, Ansett got 35% and Farrell and de Kantzow 10% each. The new company began operations on July 1, 1948 and was registered as Cathay Pacific Limited on October 18. Swire later acquired 52% of Cathay Pacific and today the airline is still part of the Swire Group through Swire Pacific.

Cathay Pacific Headquarters in Hong Kong.

The airline prospered in the 1960s. It bought rival Hong Kong Airways in 1959, doubled growth in 1967, acquired its first jet, the Convair 880, and began international routes to Osaka, Fukuoka, and Nagoya in Japan.. In 1966 the airline had carried one million passengers. Expansion continued through the 1970s and especially into the 1980s, when an industry-wide boom caused the growth of routes to many European hubs and Cathay Pacific went public in 1986. In January In the 1990s, Cathay Pacific and its parent company, Swire Pacific, acquired a significant portion of the shares of Dragonair and 60% of the cargo airline Air Hong Kong. Even so, Cathay Pacific was hit by the Asian recession of the late 1990s, undergoing a reorganization and developing a new identity.

In 1996 the Chinese CITIC bought 25% of Cathay Pacific. Swire Group's share was reduced to 44% as two Chinese companies, CNAC and CTS, also bought substantial parts of the company. In September 1998 Cathay Pacific became a founding partner of the Oneworld alliance. In 2004 the airline had a turnover of 39.065 million Hong Kong dollars and profits of 4.417 million.

On June 9, 2006, Cathay Pacific underwent a stock reorganization as Dragonair would become a wholly owned subsidiary of Cathay Pacific, although it would continue to operate under the Dragonair name. In addition, Air China and its subsidiary CNAC Ltd would acquire 17.5% of Cathay Pacific, but Cathay Pacific would double its stake in Air China to 20%. CITIC would reduce its stake to 17.5% and Swire would reduce its share once again to 40%.

In 2006 the airline celebrated its 60th anniversary and during this year it did a series of touring shows called the Cathay Pacific 60th Anniversary Skyshow, where the public could watch the airline's events over the past 60 years, playing games, meeting airline staff and looking at vintage uniforms. Cathay Pacific also introduced its 60th anniversary products and inflight meals served by famous restaurants in Hong Kong in collaboration with the celebrations.

Destinations

Fleet

Passenger Fleet

Cathay Pacific's fleet distribution is as follows, with a median age of 10.9 years (as of May 2023):

Cathay Pacific Fleet

Aeronave	Service	Orders	Passengers					Notes
			F	B	P	E	Total
Airbus A320-200	1	-	-
Airbus A321-200	2	-	-
Airbus A321-251NX	10	1	-
Airbus A330-300	42	-	-	39	-	223	262
				39	21	191	251
				24	-	293	317
				28	-	265	293
Airbus A350-941	28	-	-	38	28	214	280
Airbus A350-1041	18	2	-	46	32	256	334
Boeing 777-300	17	-	-	42	-	396	438
Boeing 777-367ER	39	-	6	53	34	201	294
			-	40	32	296	368
Boeing 777-9	-	21	TBA					Delivery starts in 2025.
Total	157	24

Cargo fleet

Cathay Pacific Cargo operates a fleet of 20 Boeing 747 cargo aircraft, in addition to using Cathay Pacific passenger aircraft cargo spaces (as of February 2023).

Cathay Pacific Cargo Fleet

Aeronave	In service	Orders
Boeing 747-400ERF	6	-
Boeing 747-867F	14	-
TOTAL	20	0

Historical Fleet

Historical fleet of Cathay Pacific

Airplane	Total	Introduced	Withdrawal	Notes
Airbus A320-200	1	2021	2022
Boeing 777-200	5	1997	2019
Boeing 747-200	15	1993	2009
Boeing 747-300	6	1997	2002
Airbus A340-200	4	1994	1997
Airbus A340-300	18	1997	2017
Airbus A340-600	3	2002	2009

Accidents and incidents

• June 15, 1972 - Cathay Pacific's 700Z flight bearing 81 people on board disintegrated while flying at 29,000 feet (8,839 m) over Pleiku, South Vietnam. A bomb exploded in a suitcase placed under a seat in the cabin making the plane explode.
• 13 April 2010 - Cathay Pacific Flight 780 made an emergency landing at Hong Kong airport, following problems in boosting fuel pollution engines. There were no deaths, although fifty-seven wounded.