Official: Cathay Pacific Launching Service to Washington DC

by Enoch

Last week, South China Morning Post reported that Cathay Pacific will soon be launching non-stop service between Hong Kong and Washington DC. The move is an interesting one, as it will help strength Cathay Pacific’s East Coast presence; on the other hand, with no good oneworld connection to/from Washington-Dulles, Cathay Pacific will be largely relying on traffic originating or terminating in DC. However, this is not unprecedented—Newark (EWR), which Cathay Pacific also serves with a daily flight, has been doing well since the route’s launch in 2014.

Today, Cathay Pacific confirmed that they are indeed launching service between Hong Kong (HKG) and Washington Dulles (IAD). The inaugural flight will be on September 15, 2018, and the route will operate four times a week in each direction. Flight times as follows:

  • Hong Kong (HKG) to Washington (IAD): CX 860 – 1835/2220 Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday
  • Washington (IAD) to Hong Kong (HKG): CX 860 – 0115/0510 Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday

The flights have been loaded into the schedule, and are now bookable. Award space actually looks pretty decent for those interested; in almost typical Cathay fashion, they are releasing 5 Business Class award seatser flight across the board.

At a Great Circle distance of 8,154 miles, this will be Cathay Pacific’s longest flight, surpassing the current longest route of Hong Kong to New York-JFK (8,072 miles). The new service also joins Cathay Pacific’s other existing to North America, including Boston (BOS), Chicago (ORD), Los Angeles (LAX), Newark (EWR), San Francisco (SFO), Toronto (YYZ), and Vancouver (YVR).

The new Washington DC route will be operated by an A350, which features Business Class, Premium Economy, and Economy Class. Cathay Pacific currently flies the A350 to Newark (EWR) and San Francisco (SFO), among other international destinations, after a pretty tumultuous rollout.

Cathay Pacific Business Class on A350. Photo courtesy of Cathay Pacific.

Cathay Pacific Business Class on A350. Photo courtesy of Cathay Pacific.

Cathay Pacific has been on a roll this year, launching flights to destinations after destinations. In the beginning of the year, they announced a seasonal route to Barcelona. Early in the summer, they announced new service to Brussels, Copenhagen, and Dublin, all of which will start flying in 2018.

With the heavy focus on European expansion, it’s nice to see that Cathay Pacific is not abandoning its US destinations, and those on the East Coast will certainly have a new option when planning a trip to Asia.

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