Spreading Its Wings

Over the years, Cathay Pacific Airways has been making the right investments which has helped it to develop Hong Kong as one of the world's leading global transportation hubs.

- Surya Kannoth

What Roy C Farrell and his Australian partner Sydney H de Kantzow foresaw 70 years ago is something that nobody had ever imagined. Sensing the potential trading opportunity with China following the aftermath of World War II, they purchased a US Army surplus Douglas Dakota DC-3, called "Betsy", which became the first plane in Cathay's fleet for US $30,000, which was later converted to civilian use, packed it full of goods from the United States, and flew off to Shanghai. This laid the origins of Cathay Pacific Airways, which started a small regional freighter to now becoming one of the world’s leading international air cargo carriers.

Cathay Pacific’s cargo business currently accounts for around 24 percent of its annual revenues, and has helped to build Hong Kong into the world’s busiest air cargo hub. All of Cathay Pacific’s cargo operations are grouped under its Cathay Pacific Cargo unit.

With a current fleet of 21 Boeing 747 freighters, Cathay currently flies to 45 destinations around the world. It also utilises cargo space on Cathay Pacific’s 122 passenger aircraft. The cargo unit carries more than 120,000 tonnes of cargo per month, more than half of which is uplifted on passenger flights.

When it comes to India operations, Cathay flies 25 freighters per week. “The market in India is growing. We see a range of electronics, project shipments etc being transported. The frequency of freighters we have in India, which is 25 per week as compared to 7 a week to Europe just shows how important India is now for the air cargo market and to Cathay,” says Mark Sutch, general manager cargo sales & marketing, Cathay Pacific Cargo.