Cathay Pacific’s A350 to serve Auckland, Paris and Rome

After unveiling its new A350 (see here), Cathay Pacific has opened up booking for three destinations to be served by the new fuel-efficient aircraft. Auckland, Paris and Rome services, will all be switched to the A350. The Hong Kong-Auckland daily return service, CX117/118, will launch on October 30. Replacling the incumbent A340 will mean an increase of 12 seats in business, plus three more seats in economy, in addition to the perks of a brand new aircraft. From October 31, the A350 will serve Paris on the CX279/278 flights, which operate three-times weekly on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays. The service is currently operated by a three-class B777-300ER, featuring 40 seats in business, 32 in premium economy and 268 in economy. In comparison, the A350 only has 38 in business class (1-2-1), 28 in premium economy (2-4-2) and 214 in economy (3-3-3). Also from October 31, Cathay Pacific will deploy the A350 on its daily Hong Kong–Rome route. Flight CX293 will depart Hong Kong at 0030 and arrive in Rome at 0635. The return flight CX292 will then take off from Rome at 1225, before touching back down in Hong Kong at 0650 the following day. The A350 celebrated its first flights today from Hong Kong to Manila and Taipei Taoyuan. The aircraft will be deployed on short-haul routes for the time being while crew familiarisation takes place. For more information, visit cathaypacific.com Clement Huang