LONDON – Cathay Pacific has formally welcomed the Hong Kong SAR Government’s latest measures to facilitate quarantine-free travel between Hong Kong and the Chinese Mainland, as well as the lifting of transit restrictions, effective 8 January 2023.
In light of today’s announcement, Cathay Pacific has advised that it will more than double its flights into the Chinese Mainland, operating 61 return flights per week between Hong Kong and 13 Mainland cities from 14 January 2023.
This compares to the 27 flights per week from Hong Kong to the Mainland, and 50 flights per week from the Mainland to Hong Kong that the airline is currently operating.
Further flight changes in coming weeks
Cathay Pacific is working actively to resume and add more flights progressively between Hong Kong and the Chinese Mainland in the coming weeks, with the stated aim of operating over 100 return flights per week by the end of March 2023.
From 8 January 2023, Cathay Pacific will increase its flights between Hong Kong and Beijing to 10 pairs per week, and between Hong Kong and Shanghai (Pudong) to 21 pairs per week.
The airline is also resuming flights to Guangzhou with five return flights per week.
Meanwhile, from 14 January 2023 the airline will increase its flights between Hong Kong and Xiamen to four pairs per week, and between Hong Kong and Chengdu to six pairs per week.
As of today, Cathay Pacific operates flights serving close to 60 destinations worldwide. The airline continues to add more destinations to its schedule. for the latest flight schedule and information.
The Group states that it “remains fully committed to rebuilding the connectivity of the Hong Kong international aviation hub.”
“As a Group, we anticipate that we will be operating around 70% of pre-pandemic passenger flight capacity by the end of 2023, with an aim to return to pre-pandemic levels by the end of 2024.”
Hong Kong travel restrictions
In December 2022, Hong Kong scrapped the requirement for mandatory vaccine passes, and the requirement for inbound passengers to take a PCR test for COVID19.
In latest news, Hong Kong is set to reopen 4 border checkpoints to mainland China on Sunday, according to news source HKFP. The border has been mostly sealed for three years.
