Exclusive: Cathay may announce new flights to Moscow, Milan

After its beleaguered effort back in 2006 to launch new flights to Russia’s capital city, Moscow, then onto United Kingdom’s Manchester, Cathay Pacific may announce refreshed plans to launch the flight,Airways Aviation News can exclusively reveal.

Airways Aviation News can confirm that the new plan includes leg from Moscow Domodedovo Airport to Manchester, UK.

The plan will be announced “in months’ time”, according to Airways Aviation News‘ source at the Hong Kong-based carrier.

Cathay Pacific attempted in 2006 to launch the Hong Kong-Moscow-Manchester flight but eventually failed, citing the longer time taken to secure UK authorities’ approval to do so.

Russia recently loosened its visa restriction for Hong Kong citizens, further bolstering travels and business ties between the two countries.

Currently only Russian flag carrier Aeroflot flies the Hong Kong-Moscow leg, which has a codeshare agreement with Cathay Pacific on this leg.

Image Courtesy of Cathay Pacific

Milan, Chicago on the radar
Meanwhile, Cathay Pacific is also set to announce new direct flights to Milan, Italy.
The fashion city currently has no direct flights to Hong Kong.

There is a considerable number of passengers travelling on Cathay Pacific’s Hong Kong-Rome route are actually going to Milan and launching this new direct flight can cater for demand.

The plan specifies the Hong Kong-Milan leg being operated by Boeing 777-300ER, people familiar with the matter said.

On the other hand, Cathay Pacific seems to have plans to launch direct new flights to Chicago, Illinois in the USA, people familiar with the matter told Airways Aviation News. There is a high chance that the new flight will also be operated by Boeing 777-300ER, given the fact that Cathay Pacific deploys mainly 777-300ERs on North America routes.

One of these people commented personally that he expects the flight to be launched in 2011, but this timeline remains as a speculation at this stage, though.

Strategic plans
Should these plans be announced by Cathay Pacific in the foreseeable future, then Cathay Pacific will be well-positioned since it will have footholds in 3 of the 4 most important aviation markets in the next 20 years, namely “BRIC” – Brazil, Russia, India and China.

Cathay Pacific has a strong foothold in China following its acquisition of Dragonair in 2006 and its strategic alliance with the Chinese flag carrier Air China, with the latter holding 29.99% of stakes in Cathay Pacific.

Cathay Pacific is setting up a cargo joint-venture with Air China in Shanghai, which was reported to have a timeframe to finalize it by next year.

“Discussion with Air China remains ongoing… sorry that there is nothing we can add at this stage until the deal is concluded,” Cathay Pacific spokeswoman Carolyn Leung said.

Meanwhile, Cathay Pacific flies to Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi in India and its wholly-owned subsidiary flies to Bengaluru (Bangalore).

Moreover, the new direct flights to Moscow Domodedovo can enable better connections with oneworld alliance members American Airlines (AA), British Airways (BA), Iberia, Japan Airlines (JAL) as well as oneworld alliance prospect S7 Airlines, potentially making Moscow Domodedovo an oneworld alliance hub.

By the time Cathay Pacific launches these routes, the global economy may be on the mend, and enable Cathay Pacific to grow again, although an expansion is highly premature at this stage.

For the time being, Cathay Pacific’s main focus will be on survival, put it simply.

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