Cathay Pacific is marking 40 years in the Americas - on 01MAY 1983, Cathay Pacific flight CX800, a Boeing 747-200, departed Hong Kong to touch down in Vancouver for the first time.
The launch of nonstop service between HKG and YVR not only represented the airline's first entry into North America, but also it becoming the first airline in the world to connect these two cities with a nonstop service.
Cathay Pacific opened its first ticket office on 16MAR 1983, at 1018 West Georgia Street, in the heart of Vancouver's "airline row", employing 26 in sales, marketing and reservations. Today, the airline employs close to 300 employees throughout Canada, Mexico and the U.S.
In 1986, Cathay Pacific added a San Francisco tag to its Vancouver service—with flights departing SFO, stopping in YVR before continuing to Hong Kong. Further expansion continued apace over the years, with Cathay Pacific launching services to Hong Kong from Los Angeles (1990), Toronto (1994), a standalone SFO flight in 1998, New York (JFK) in 2004, Chicago O'Hare (2011), Newark (2013), Boston (2015), Washington Dulles (2018), and Seattle (2019). Cathay Pacific's JFK-YVR-HKG flight was added in 1996, before its discontinuation in 2019.
"As we reflect on 40 years in the Americas, we are incredibly grateful to our loyal customers, our dedicated staff, industry partners, our Hong Kong family, and the communities that have welcomed us with open arms and who continue to support us. Our future is bright and we are excited to rebuild Hong Kong together with our customers and partners, said Chris van den Hooven, SVP, Americas, who will also celebrate his 36-year anniversary with Cathay Pacific this year and launched his career with the airline as a Reservation Sales Agent in Vancouver.
"Hong Kong and North America have long been the best of business and trade partners. Business aside, Canada and Hong Kong are closely tied to each other given the size of our Canadian community. Cathay Pacific has been playing a pivotal role in connecting Hong Kong and Canada over the past decades," said the Director of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office (Toronto) (HKETO), Emily Mo.
Cathay Pacific added that its focus in 2023 is on on rebuilding its network and connectivity at its Hong Kong hub after three years of pandemic reductions. The airline currently operates over 50 flights per week out of North America from six cities (Boston, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Toronto and Vancouver), nearly half of its pre-pandemic capacity in North America. 2023 will also see the reopening of Cathay Pacific's airport lounges at San Francisco and Vancouver.
More information about Cathay Pacific is available on its website.
