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Cathay Pacific witnessing improved demand for passenger flights from India

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Cathay Pacific has been operating in India for seven decades. The market has grown tremendously since their first flight from Kolkata (erstwhile Calcutta) in 1953. India has always been a key market for Cathay Pacific and will continue to be. Anand Yedery, Regional Head, Marketing and Sales – South Asia, Middle East and Africa (SAMEA) Cathay Pacific, shares the latest development at his airline, which will be resuming or increasing passenger flights for several important markets, including the US, Australia, New Zealand, and India.

Prashant Nayak

Cathay Pacific resumed its non-stop flights between Mumbai and Hong Kong on May 4, 2022, and between Delhi and Hong Kong on May 6, 2022. As per the latest development, the airline has announced an increase in the frequency of its flights from Mumbai and Delhi to Hong Kong. Cathay Pacific will be operating flights from/to Mumbai departing every Friday and Sunday and flights from/to Delhi departing every Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday from July onwards.

Furthermore, their customers can connect seamlessly with the airline’s interline partners from other Indian cities such as Bangalore, Chennai, and Kolkata to Hong Kong and beyond via Cathay Pacific’s Delhi and Mumbai flights. An enhanced schedule will further boost direct connectivity with Hong Kong and popular destinations such as New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Vancouver, Toronto, Melbourne, and Sydney.

“After a pause in our operations due to the pandemic, we were delighted to resume non-stop flights between Mumbai and Delhi to Hong Kong and beyond in May 2022. The resumption of our flights has been positively received by customers and trade partners alike. With the ease in travel restrictions in most parts of the world as well as our hub, Hong Kong, our focus is to cater to and accommodate the resurgent demand for international travel, particularly the Indian diaspora in our country and Hong Kong. We will be deploying the Boeing B777-300 on these routes that will cater to the cargo demand as well as the passenger traffic,” says Anand.

The airline constantly monitors and adapts to the latest travel guidelines laid down by the Indian and Hong Kong governments. To provide their customers with a seamless travel experience, they have updated our website with the necessary travel requirements. Additionally, passengers are encouraged to refer to the government’s websites for updated information. Passengers travelling or transiting Hong Kong must adhere to the immigration and quarantine requirements, including presenting a negative COVID-19 test result. Given the travel requirements, they have collaborated with a diagnostic lab partner across key cities in India, including Mumbai and Delhi, for travellers to conduct their RT-PCR tests at a special price.

The health and well-being of their passengers are paramount to the airline. They have introduced Cathay Care, their safety initiative that includes taking enhanced measures across every stage of their customer’s journey – so they can take off with confidence. “We introduced contactless check-in and boarding, thorough sanitisation of surfaces using disinfectants recommended by IATA and WHO as well as HEPA filtered cabin air, amongst other measures. Our recently introduced ‘Fly Ready’ program allows travellers to conveniently upload their COVID-19 test results and other required health documents before their flight. Our teams verify the documents ahead of time, allowing customers to have a swift airport experience. We have also launched the ‘Fly Worry Free’ program, providing customers greater flexibility in their bookings, with the option to make unlimited ticket changes, including travel dates and destination, until 31 December 2022,” informs Anand.

Cathay Pacific recently celebrated an important milestone in 2021 as they marked 75 years of bringing people together as Hong Kong’s home airline. Through the pandemic, they have connected people to their loved ones, carried essential medical aid and vaccines, welcomed the arrival of state-of-the-art aircraft, including the latest Airbus A321neo, and launched exciting innovations across both their business functions – passenger and cargo. They continue to invest and offer services that truly allow them to become the world’s greatest service brand.

India is one of the fastest-growing economies and the sixth-largest economy globally as per GDP and the third-largest in terms of Purchasing Power Parity (PPP), after Mainland China and the US. Explaining the potential of India market, Anand says, “There is a burgeoning middle class with more spending power and an appetite to travel internationally for leisure, VFR, education, and business. Moreover, the passenger traffic in India is expected to grow at 6.2 per cent per annum by 2040, the fastest among the major economies and well above the global average of 3.9 per cent. There is huge potential for travel in the international long-haul market out of India. We are glad to have resumed international flights from the country, especially before the peak summer season, while catering to the growing demand. Based in Hong Kong, we are well-positioned to act as the carrier of choice for passengers travelling to and from one of the world’s fastest-growing markets, India.”