[cwoodward]

After an absence since October 2019 Cathay will recommence flights to Cairns from 17th December seasonally through to end March 2025.

The 7 hour flights will be operated on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday using two class A330 aircraft that will feature 28 new business class flat beds in a roomy 1-2-1 layout.

The announcement was made yesterday by Regional General Manager, Southwest Pacific Frosti Lau saying “the seasonal offering will provide seamless connections to the rest of the world” – and Cathay’s 80 plus worldwide destinations.

Cathay’s return to Cairns is being underwritten by the Queensland Government’s $200 million Attracting Aviation Investment Fund.

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AMcWhirter, christ

[christ]

Wow, never knew they flew to Cairns – only went once from Sydney and thought it was a small airport and a relatively small city (Hilton was not great either). However i did do a beautiful steam railway trip.

Has Qantas given up on HK in comparison to Cathay – I assume it is not a revenue share like BA / AA / Iberia for US?

Credit to Cathay if they can fill up so many Australian flights to a mix of airports.

[cwoodward]

Ther Shangri-la has always had a good reputation and it is in an great position surrounded by water.
I was rathe burnt out about 12 years back and spent 8 very pleasant lazy days – the NT rainforests are magical and the fishing rewarding
The airport has had a major revamp I read with new and understand large Qantas (OW) lounge.
Well worth a long weekend ex HK I would say.

3 users thanked author for this post.

tomyam42, LetsFlyNow, christ

[LetsFlyNow]

@cwoodward is spot on.

I looove Cairns! Was there last year and instead of an extended weekend i ended up staying for 10days at the Shangri-La. Excellent hotel, excellent location at the harbour and very reasonably priced. Went snorkeling in the great barrier reef, rain forest trips etc. Lots of wildlife (crocs, snakes) rather close to the city like the swamps on the road to and from the airport. Amazing.

Yes the airport has indeed been renovated though i didn’t get to try any lounges as i got to the airport rather late and was flying Virgin. It is rather very popular with Asian tourists. SQ deploys the A350 4x wkly on the route.
Can’t wait to return.

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christ

[christ]

Flights seem relatively reasonably priced at about HKD 32k for dates i looked. A good departure at 1am for a few pre – drinks in the Cathay lounges and then sleep on plane and arrive a very civilized 1030.

[Rferguson2]

Am I right in thinking CNS-HKG used to form part of a ‘triangle’ pattern previously? CX used to fly one of their BNE-HKG frequencies via CNS so the aircraft would route HKG-BNE-CNS-HKG?

Will obviously mainly appeal to tourists visiting the region but I am sure the residents of Far North Queensland will also welcome a connection to the wider world. Only SQ currently flies from CNS to an international hub with even EK and QR giving the city a wide berth. Demand is obviously growing as SQ recently upgraded the SIN-CNS route from a 737-Max to a much larger A350.

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AndrewinHK

[AndrewinHK]

Yes you are correct Rferguson. It was one of the golden routes for crew often lots of friends and family tagging along, I recall friends having 8 day patterns HKG-CNS-BNE-CNS-HKG. Friends and family could pay a small surcharge and remain in the crews hotel rooms whilst they did the shuttle CNS-BNE-CNS, same used to be the case for the CX 888 golden pattern HKG-YVR-JFK-YVR-HKG 9 day pattern with allowances close to $1000 USD.

[tomyam42]

Both the triangular and the three stop services have been flown in the past. Sad to see an “old” A330 while SQ is moving to the latest generation A350.

Good to see Cathay getting close to its old full Australian service but where is the long rumoured return of the direct Adelaide service. It does not appear in Cathay’s timetable and cannot be booked on line. Is this another consequence of a shortage of either crew or planes? Perhaps they were sequestered for Riyadh.

[cwoodward]

my understanding (not announced or confirmed) is that Adelaide will flights will restart early December 6 times a week.

[Author]

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