Cathay Pacific Airways is the flag carrier of Hong Kong. Cathay is an old word for China and Pacific expresses the dream to cross the Pacific in a plane one day. The airline is one of only five airlines worldwide with a five-star rating from Skytrax. With around 100 wide-body jets the oneworld member flies to around 100 destinations all over the world. Cathay Pacific was rated airline of the year 2006 by Air Transport World magazine.
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Cathay Pacific Airways (CX) was founded on September 24, 1946, in Hongkong by American Roy C. Farrell and Australian Sydney H. de Kantzow. As legend has it, the name was thought of at the bar of the Manila Hotel. Cathay is an old word for China and Pacific expresses the dream, to cross the Pacific in a plane one day.
The two of them began to fly passengers to Manila, Singapore, Shanghai and Bangkok using a converted Douglas DC-3 called “Betsy”, which was sold in 1955 and is visible in the Hong Kong Science Museum today.
In 1948, Butterfield & Swire acquired 45 % of the company. The rest went to Australian National Airways and the two airline founders, each taking 10 %. Swire later acquired further airline shares. Cathay Pacific is still part of the Swire Group today (2007).
The airline grew enormously, between 1962 and 1967 at an average of 20% a year! Already in 1959, competitor Hong Kong Airlines (a subsidiary of BOAC) had been purchased. New international routes like for example to Osaka, Fukuoka and Nagoya in Japan were added.
New aircraft like the Lockheed L-188 Electra in 1959 and the Convair 880 (Cathay’s first real jet plane) in 1962 were bought, followed by Boeing 707s and Lockheed TriStars.
By 1966, the airline had carried one million passengers (today they carry one million passengers per month!).
The expansion continued throughout the 1970s with the introduction of the Boeing 747. Destinations in Europe and North America became part of the route network. The 80s were a great time for airlines, more travellers than ever before used the plane, and so Cathay added London, Brisbane, Frankfurt, Vancouver, Amsterdam, Rome, San Francisco, Paris, Zurich and Manchester to its destinations.
In January 1990, CX and its parent company Swire acquired significant shares of Dragonair and Air Hong Kong. Later in the 90s, the company suffered from the Asian recession, but recovered after structural changes and the development of a new identity. Cathay Pacific now owns quite a young aircraft fleet (average of 7.0 years in 2006).
In 1996, Chinese CITIC bought 25 % of Cathay Pacific, Swire reduced its share first to 44 %, then to 40 %. The airline became founding member of oneworld alliance two years later.
In 2004, Cathay Pacific made a profit of HK$ 4,417 million. Severe setbacks were 9/11, the Second Gulf War and SARS, which affected almost every Asian airline in 2003. CX, however, survived all these crises.
On June 9, 2006, Cathay Pacific underwent shareholding realignment. Dragonair will continue to operate under its own brand as wholly owned CX subsidiary, CX will work closer with Air China and Swire will remain the principal shareholder in the company.
Cathay Pacific is one of only five airlines rated with five stars by Skytrax. Its main base is Hong Kong International airport. The airline owns a total of around 100 aircraft with another 16 long-range Boeing 777-300ERs and three Airbus 330-300s already ordered.
CX has been rated airline of the year 2006 by Air Transport World magazine, meeting the company’s 60th anniversary.
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