Cathay adds fifth Adelaide frequency

Cathay Pacific will add a fifth weekly flight to Adelaide from December 2, thanks to “high demand” from both inbound and outbound passengers, the Hong Kong-based carrier announced on Thursday.

The new services will see a new Wednesday evening departure from Hong Kong, arriving and then departing Adelaide on Thursday mornings.

“Since we introduced our new schedule in early April last year which provides better connections, particularly to the UK and Chinese destinations, we have seen demand surge,” Nelson Chin, Cathay Pacific’s general manager for southwest Pacific, said in a statement. “Our flights have been very popular and we have seen increased numbers of tourists into Adelaide from mainland China, as well as South Australians taking advantage of the fast connections to China, Asia, London and North America via Hong Kong.”

As well as taking weekly seats between Adelaide and Hong Kong to 2,500, the new flights also represent a 25 per cent increase in belly freight capacity.

“In addition to extra passengers, we have also been carrying a lot more freight out of Adelaide, particularly fresh tuna to Japan, chilled fish to Hong Kong and Europe, as well as chilled meat to Frankfurt and Taiwan. An extra flight each week gives South Australian exporters an extra 15 tonnes in freight capacity,” Chin said.

Cathay Pacific has been operating to Adelaide since 1992. Its Adelaide flights were for many years triangulated with Melbourne before Cathay began operating direct services from 2011. All Adelaide flights, which are operated by Airbus A330-300s, have been direct services since early 2014.