Cathay Pacific’s long-haul growth focus is moving from North America to Europe. This is due to market competition and aircraft. Growth across the trans-Pacific saw Cathay rapidly expand to counter competitors. Cathay’s long haul backbone is the 777-300ER, whose range is needed for North America but which is often overpowering for Europe. Cathay’s other long haul aircraft is the A330-300, which cannot serve Europe. (A340s are being retired.) Cathay’s incoming A350-900s, expected no earlier than Mar-2016 (a slight delay from the original Feb-2016 date due to changes to the business class seat), give Cathay a medium-capacity widebody with the range to serve Europe.
Cathay’s European network had undergone little change for a number of years. Milan was added in 2010, Cathay’s first new European point in at least half a decade. A growth spurt began in Dec-2014 with the addition of Manchester, followed by Zurich and Dusseldorf in 2015. Madrid will be added in Jun-2016 while Cathay has flagged other European cities – such as Copenhagen – once it receives more A350s.
In addition to opening new destinations, A350s will take over some smaller markets as well as less prime frequencies in cities that have multiple flights a day (such as Paris). This role was previously fulfilled by the A340, which has been pulled down from Europe and will exit the fleet in 2017.