Cathay Pacific returns to Cairns

Cathay Pacific’s Australian rebound is showing no signs of slowing down, with Cairns the latest city to find a place on the Oneworld member’s rapidly-expanding route map.

The much-anticipated return of Cairns-Hong Kong will be a seasonal offering timed for Christmas and Chinese New Year, lifting off from December 17 2024 through to March 29 2025. 

Departing thrice-weekly every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday on an Airbus A330, the schedule is as follows:

• CX146 sees wheels up from Cairns at 12pm, touching down in Hong Kong at 5:15pm
• CX147 jets off from Hong Kong at 1:05am, arriving in Cairns at 10:30am

The A330 is fitted with 28 business class flat beds in a passenger-friendly 1-2-1 layout, followed by 265 seats in economy – however, on these older A330 jets there is no premium economy cabin.

Cathay Pacific's comfortable A330 business class.

Frosti Lau, Regional General Manager, Southwest Pacific says the seasonal offering will “provide seamless connections to the rest of the world, including into London, the Chinese Mainland, India and the US.”

Cathay’s return to Cairns is underwritten by the Queensland Government’s $200 million Attracting Aviation Investment Fund, which has secured 35 flights since February 2022, including those on Singapore Airlines, Delta Air Lines and China Southern Airlines, to name a few.

Executive Traveller has reached out for comment on whether business class travellers will be welcomed into Cairns Airport’s newly-reopened airport lounge, which currently unlocks its doors for business class and frequent flyers on Singapore Airlines.

The new Cairns international lounge.

In Hong Kong, lounge-worthy travellers have their pick of Cathay’s five Hong Kong lounges – The Wing First (home to private cabana suites), plus The Wing Business, The Pier First, The Pier Business and The Deck – along with the Qantas Hong Kong Lounge.

These additional flights join Cathay’s daily departures from Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth, of which the latter two will also see increases later in the year.  

Are you headed to Hong Kong? Here’s how your Australian passport can be used to skip the immigration queues at Hong Kong Airport via the automated e-Channel lanes.