Cathay Pacific
Cathay Pacific Airways Limited, or simply Cathay Pacific, is the flag carrier of Hong Kong, with its head office and main hub located at Hong Kong International Airport. The airline's operations and its subsidiaries have scheduled passenger and cargo services to more than 190 destinations and more than 60 countries worldwide including codeshares and joint ventures.
Cathay Pacific operates a fleet consisting of Airbus A321neo, Airbus A330, Airbus A350, and Boeing 777 aircraft. Cathay Cargo operates two models of Boeing 747, the B747-400ERF and B747-8F. Defunct wholly owned subsidiary airline Cathay Dragon, which ceased operations in 2020, operated to 44 destinations in the Asia-Pacific region from its Hong Kong base. In 2010, Cathay Pacific and Cathay Cargo, together with Cathay Dragon, transported nearly 27 million passengers and more than 1.8 million tons of cargo and mail.
Cathay Pacific was founded on 24 September 1946 by Australian Sydney H. de Kantzow and American Roy C. Farrell. The airline celebrated its 70th anniversary in 2016. As of March 2024, its major shareholders are Swire Pacific with a 45% stake, Air China with 30% and Qatar Airways with 9.9%. In November 2025 Cathay announced its intention to buy back Qatar Airways' stake. On 6 January 2026, Air China announced the sale of a 1.61% stake in Cathay Pacific for approximately HK$1.32 billion.
Cathay Pacific is one of the founding members of Oneworld. As of 2025, Skytrax ranks the airline as a 5-star airline and as the third best airline in the world.
History
1946–1960: The early years
Cathay Pacific Airways was founded on 24 September 1946 in Hong Kong. Sydney "Syd" de Kantzow, Roy Farrell, Neil Buchanan, Donald Brittan Evans and Robert "Bob" Stanley Russell were the initial shareholders. Buchanan and Russell had already worked for de Kantzow and Farrell at Roy Farrell Import-Export Company, the predecessor of Cathay Pacific, that was initially headquartered in Shanghai. Both de Kantzow and Farrell were Ex-Air Force pilots who had flown The Hump, a route over the Himalayan mountains. Farrell purchased the airline's first aircraft, a Douglas DC-3, nicknamed Betsy, at Bush Field, New York City in 1945. The company began freight services on 28 January 1950 from Sydney to Shanghai, after Farrell and Russell flew the plane to Australia and obtained a licence to carry freight earlier that month. Its first commercial flight was a shipment of Australian goods. The profitable business soon attracted attention from Republic of China government officials. After several instances where the company's planes were detained by authorities in Shanghai, on 11 May 1946, the company relocated, flying its two planes to Hong Kong. Farrell and de Kantzow re-registered their business in Hong Kong on 24 September 1946 as Cathay Pacific Airways Limited, while another sister company, The Roy Farrell Export Import Company Limited, was incorporated on 28 August 1946 and chartered some flights from Cathay.They named the airline Cathay, the ancient name given to China, and Pacific because Farrell speculated that they would one day fly across the Pacific, and, moreover, to avoid the name "Air Cathay" as it had already been used in a comic. The Chinese name for the company was not settled on until the 1950s. It comes from a Chinese idiom meaning "Peace and Prosperity" and was at the time often used by other businesses called "Cathay" in English.
According to legend, the airline's unique name was conceived by Farrell and some foreign correspondents at the bar of the Manila Hotel, while another narrative was the name was taken in the Cathay Hotel in Shanghai Bund, during drinking and brainstorming, and choosing Cathay was to avoid the word China in the airline name. On Cathay Pacific's maiden voyage, de Kantzow and Peter Hoskins flew from Sydney to Hong Kong via Manila. The airline initially flew routes between Hong Kong, Sydney, Manila, Singapore, Shanghai, Saigon, Bangkok, with additional chartered destinations. The airline grew quickly. By 1947, it had added another five DC-3s and two Vickers Catalina seaplanes to its fleet.
In 1948, a new legal person of Cathay Pacific Airways was incorporated, with John Swire & Sons, China Navigation Company, Australian National Airways being the new shareholders of the new entity, acquiring the assets from the old legal person; the old legal person, was renamed into Cathay Pacific Holdings, as well as retaining 10% shares of the new Cathay Pacific Airways. de Kantzow, Farrell and Russell were the shareholders of Cathay Pacific Holdings at that time. It was reported that the colonial British government of Hong Kong required the airline was majority-owned by the British. Despite de Kantzow being a British subject through his Australian roots, Farrell was an American, thus forcing them to sell their majority stake. Under Swire's management, de Kantzow remained in the airline until 1951, while Farrell had sold his minority stake in Cathay Pacific soon after Swire's takeover in 1948, due to his wife's health problems. He returned to Texas and became a successful businessman.
Swire later acquired 52% of Cathay Pacific Airways., the airline is still owned by Swire Group to the extent of 45% through its subsidiary Swire Pacific Limited, as the largest shareholder. However, Swire Group also formed a shareholders' agreement with the second largest shareholder, Air China, which Cathay Pacific and Air China had a cross ownership.
In the late 1940s, the Hong Kong Government divided the local aviation market between Cathay Pacific and its only local competitor, the Jardine Matheson-owned Hong Kong Airways: Cathay Pacific was allocated routes to the south, while Hong Kong Airways was allocated routes to the north. The situation changed with the establishment of the People's Republic of China and the Korean War, which reduced the viability of the northern routes. In 1959, Cathay Pacific acquired Hong Kong Airways, and became the dominant airline in Hong Kong.
Under Swire, another important sister company, HAECO, was established in 1950. Nowadays, it's one of the major aeroplane repair service companies of Hong Kong with divisions in other cities of China.
1960–1990: Expansion
The airline thrived during the late 1950s and into the 1960s, culminating in its acquisition of Hong Kong Airways on 1 July 1959. Between 1962 and 1967, the airline recorded double digit growth on average every year and became one of the world's first airlines to operate international services to Fukuoka, Nagoya and Osaka in Japan. In 1964, it carried its one millionth passenger and acquired its first jet engine aircraft, the Convair 880. In 1967, it became an all jet airline with the replacement of its last Lockheed L-188 Electra with a Convair 880.File:Cathay Pacific L-1011 at Osaka Airport.jpg|thumb|A Lockheed L-1011 TriStar at Osaka International Airport in 1972–1994 livery with the British Union Flag and the logo of parent company Swire|alt=Lockheed L-1011 TriStar at Osaka International Airport
In the 1970s, Cathay Pacific installed a computerised reservation system and flight simulators. In 1971, Cathay Pacific Airways received the first Boeing aircraft 707-320B. By 1972, it had five 707s. The new aircraft colour was known as Brunswick green. In July 1976, it began operating a Boeing 707 freighter from Hong Kong to Seoul, Bangkok and Singapore.
In 1974, Cathay Pacific almost purchased the McDonnell Douglas DC-10 to open a new flight route. During the flight route application process with the British government, due to the pressure from the British government, Cathay Pacific changed the application to apply for a route from Hong Kong to London using a Boeing 747. The application was ultimately rejected. In 1979, the airline acquired its first Boeing 747 and applied for traffic rights to fly to London in 1980, with the first flight taking place on 16 July.
Expansion continued into the 1980s. In 1982, Cathay Pacific Airways introduced Cathay Pacific Cargo, which provided cargo service to initiate the trend of Hong Kong becoming one of the largest re-export trading ports of the world. The airline's long-haul dedicated cargo services started a twice a week with Hong Kong-Frankfurt-London service operated jointly with Lufthansa. Cathay Pacific kept its service to Vancouver in 1983, with service on to San Francisco in 1986, when an industry-wide boom encouraged route growth to many European and North American centres including London, Brisbane, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Rome, Paris, Zurich and Manchester.
On 15 May 1986, the airline went public and was listed in the Main Board of the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong.
1990–2000: Rebranding, renewal, and Oneworld
In January 1990, Cathay Pacific and its parent company, Swire, acquired a 35% shareholding in Dragonair, and a 75% stake in cargo airline Air Hong Kong in 1994. In 1994, the airline launched a program to upgrade its passenger service, including a HK$23 million program to update its image. Its logo was updated in 1994, and again in 2014.The airline began a fleet replacement program in the mid-1990s, which cost a total of US$9 billion. In 1996, CITIC Pacific increased its holdings in Cathay Pacific from 10% to 25%, and two other Chinese companies, CNAC and CTS, also bought substantial holdings, while the Swire Group holding was reduced to 44%. According to the International Directory of Company Histories, the sale of a 12.5% stake of Cathay Pacific by Swire Pacific to a Chinese state-owned company was regarded "as evidence of China's sincerity in maintaining the prosperity of Hong Kong."
In 1997, Cathay Pacific updated the registration numbers and flags on its fleet in conjunction with the handover of Hong Kong from the United Kingdom to China.
On 21 May 1998, Cathay Pacific took the first delivery of the Boeing 777-300 at a ceremony in Everett. On 21 September 1998, Cathay Pacific, together with American Airlines, British Airways, Canadian Airlines, and Qantas, co-founded Oneworld airline alliance. Cathay Pacific temporarily took over the domestic and international operations of Philippine Airlines during its two-week shutdown from 26 September to 7 October 1998. The airline was hurt by the 1997 Asian financial crisis, but recorded a record HK$5 billion profit in 2000.