Cathay's new freighter services to Hyderabad

Neelam Mathews

April 17, 2012

Cathay Pacific Airways today announced that it will further expand its presence in India with a new twice-weekly freighter service to Hyderabad, making it the first airline to offer an air cargo service linking India’s fourth most populous city with East and North Asia, says a press release. 

In addition, a third weekly freighter flight to Bengaluru will be added to meet high demand to and from India’s leading information technology hub. Both services will commence on 17 May 2012.

The launch of the new Hyderabad service and the added frequency to Bengaluru will give shippers more choice and flexibility for connecting to the airline’s international cargo network through the Hong Kong hub.

Cathay Pacific Director Cargo Nick Rhodes said: “India is an increasingly important market for our cargo business. Hyderabad is one of the major hubs for the manufacturing of pharmaceuticals in India, accounting for around one-third of the country’s drug production, so we expect a strong demand for our specialized Pharma LIFT products and services. For Bengaluru, we have been seeing increasing demand since we launched our freighter service last August and we believe the time is right for an additional flight each week.”

General Manager South Asia, Middle East & Africa, Tom Wright said, “Hyderabad is an emerging market in terms of both imports and exports. We believe in the potential of India and with the launch of our new Hyderabad freighter and the additional service to Bengaluru we look forward to strengthening our position in the country.”

The Hyderabad service will operate on a Hong Kong-Delhi-Bengaluru-Hyderabad-Hong Kong routing every Thursday and a Hong Kong-Chennai-Hyderabad-Hong Kong routing on Sundays. The third weekly flight to Bengaluru will operate via Mumbai on Saturdays, in addition to the current flights every Monday and Thursday.

“The launch of these new flights will reinforce Cathay Pacific’s position as one of the biggest airfreight operators in India. The latest schedule enhancements mean that Cathay Pacific will operate 19 cargo flights a week to five major commercial cities: Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad,” added Rhodes.

Details of Cathay Pacific’s new Hyderabad (HYD) freighter service from 17 May 2012 (all times local):

Flight No	Routing	Departure	Arrival	Day of the week
CX043	HKG-DEL	1015	1325	Thursday
CX044	DEL-BLR	1450	1730
	BLR-HYD	1900	2010
	HYD-HKG	2140	0525+1
CX043	HKG-MAA	1925	2155	Sunday
CX044	MAA-HYD	2325	0040+1
	HYD-HKG	0210+1	0955+1