Cathay Pacific Airways on Wednesday stated it would 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.
In addition, a third weekly freighter flight to Bangalore would be added to meet high demand to and from India’s information technology hub. Both services would commence on May 17.
“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 specialised Pharma LIFT products and services. For Bangalore, 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”, Cathay Pacific director cargo, Nick Rhodes, stated in a release.
This will give shippers more choice and flexibility for connecting to the airline’s international cargo network through the Hong Kong hub, he said.
The Hyderabad service will operate on a Hong Kong-Delhi-Bangalore-Hyderabad-Hong Kong routing every Thursday and a Hong Kong-Chennai-Hyderabad-Hong Kong routing on Sundays. The third weekly flight to Bangalore 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, Bangalore and Hyderabad,” Rhodes added.
