On Sep. 5, Cathay Pacific Airways announced that it will further strengthen its services to Sydney, Australia, by adding an extra flight on four days each week from February 1, 2008. When the new Sydney services begin, Cathay Pacific will operate a total of 25 flights each week to the city and a total of 58 weekly flights from Hong Kong to Australia.

The additional flights will provide more options for passengers travelling to and from Australia's biggest city and at the same time help reinforce Hong Kong's position as one of the world's leading international aviation hubs.

The new CX161 service, operated by an A330-300 aircraft in a three-class configuration, will depart on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from Hong Kong at 21.20, arriving in Australia at 09.30 the following morning. The new flight supplements existing early-morning, early-evening and late-night departures to offer more passenger choice. The return CX162 service departs Sydney every Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays at 11.05, arriving into the Hong Kong hub at 18.05 the same day.

Cathay Pacific has been continually enhancing its services to and from Australia, providing convenient connections through the Hong Kong hub onto its own global network and the extensive Mainland China network operated by its sister carrier Dragonair.

In July this year, Cathay Pacific announced a substantial boost to its Australia services with additional flights to three major cities. Melbourne will move to a three-times-daily service from October 1; Adelaide will be go from four flights a week to a daily service on the same date; and Perth gets an extra flight every Sunday from October 28, moving to five flights a week.

Details of the additional Sydney flights, effective February 1, 2008, are as follows: