The Hong Kong based Cathay Pacific has announced that it will operate a new direct service to Dublin, operating four times per week from next June.
This new year-round service will be Dublin Airport’s first ever direct route to the Asia-Pacific region and is being welcomed as a major milestone for the delightful Irish airport and the entire Irish economy.
“We are thrilled to welcome Cathay Pacific to Dublin Airport and to Ireland,” said Dublin Airport Managing Director Vincent Harrison. “Dublin Airport is competing for routes like this with other major European airports, so winning this new business is hugely positive news for Ireland, for foreign direct investment, for Irish exporters, and for inbound tourism,” he added.
“This historic new route brings direct flights from Ireland to Hong Kong for the first time and also offers excellent onward connections via Cathay Pacific’s Hong Kong hub,” Mr Harrison said.
Currently about 40,000 people per year travel between Dublin and Hong Kong, but this is expected to grow with the opening of the new direct service. According to the Irish embassy in China, about 4,000 Irish people live in Hong Kong. Perhaps little known outside of Ireland and China is the amount of trade between the two nations, which is worth more than €8 billion per year, with almost 100 Irish firms have operations in China, employing a total of 100,000 people there.
“We’re excited to offer the only direct flights between Hong Kong and Dublin, said Cathay Pacific Chief Executive Officer Rupert Hogg. “Dublin is a fantastic destination and attracts business and leisure travellers from the world over. We listened to our customers’ demands for more options and greater flexibility and have responded by building direct air links with this great city.”
Winning the landmark new route was a collaborative effort over several years that included a wide range of other bodies, according to Mr Harrison. “We would like to thank the Irish Embassy in China, the Consulate in Hong Kong, our colleagues at Tourism Ireland and other key stakeholders such as IDA Ireland, Enterprise Ireland and Bord Bia.”
The Dublin flight will arrive in Hong Kong early in the morning local time, providing a wide range of connecting options with flights to mainland China, Japan, Korea, South-East Asia and Australia on the Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon networks.
Cathay Pacific will operate the new Dublin-Hong Kong service with an Airbus A350-900 aircraft in a three class configuration. Starting June 2, 2018, the route will operate on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday.
The planned flight times for the new Hong Kong route will see the flight will depart Dublin at 11.55, arriving in Hong Kong at 07.05. The return flight will depart Hong Kong at 00.50, arriving in Dublin at 06.45. In winter, the flight will depart Dublin at 11.00, arriving in Hong Kong at 07.30. The return flight will depart Hong Kong at 00.15 and arrive in Dublin at 05.30.
Dublin Airport has direct flights to more than 185 destinations in 41 countries operated by a total of 47 airlines.
❗This article was written for this site by a member of our team 🙋, please do share it with your friends via social media. You are also welcome to post it or republish elsewhere on the 🌎web on the condition that you credit the author and link back to our site. Thank you.
♻ We care about the environment, please think twice before you hit ‘print’
