Cathay Pacific is increasing its lions share of services between Hong Kong and London, with the addition of a FIFTH daily rotation between the two centres.
Service CX239/CX238 will form the 5th rotation, using slots vacated by Air New Zealand who are throwing in the towel between Hong Kong and London.
For what is turning almost into a shuttle service between the two cities, here is the timetable from Summer 2013:
Hong Kong - London Heathrow CX255 DEPART HKG 00:35 ARRIVE LHR 06:20 747-400 CX257 DEPART HKG 10:05 ARRIVE LHR 16:00 777-300ER CX239 DEPART HKG 10:25 ARRIVE LHR 16:15 777-300ER CX253 DEPART HKG 14:40 ARRIVE LHR 20:30 777-300ER CX251 DEPART HKG 23:55 ARRIVE LHR 05:40+1 777-300ER London Heathrow - Hong Kong CX252 DEPART LHR 12:30 ARRIVE HKG 0705+1 747-400 CX250 DEPART LHR 18:20 ARRIVE HKG 1305+1 777-300ER CX256 DEPART LHR 20:15 ARRIVE HKG 1505+1 777-300ER CX254 DEPART LHR 22:20 ARRIVE HKG 1705+1 777-300ER CX238 DEPART LHR 22:35 ARRIVE HKG 1720+1 777-300ER Commences 27 June 2013. Services Operate Daily. Equipment Varies - See against flight number.
Equipment varies depending on the flight you book – although 8 out of 10 legs will be operated by Boeing 777-300ER’s. The other two segments will operated be the classic Boeing 747-400.
As to where it got a a pair of slots at London Heathrow… look no further than Cathay Pacific’s new partner Air New Zealand who are vacating the route between London and Hong Kong (as Air New Zealand can’t make the route make money).
Cathay say:
“In response to customer demand for additional daily flights between London and Hong Kong and beyond, we have wanted to increase our Heathrow services for some time, but slots are difficult to come by. We were recently able to secure a pair of slots as they were no longer required by another airline.
Cathay have been operating the Hong Kong to London route since 1980, and seem to have a very nice product up front to do it with. Oneworld partner British Airways will operate a total of 4 segments, whilst the other direct operator – Virgin Atlantic operates a daily service between the two cities.
i think all the eastbound ones have wrong flight numbers listed. amazing how LHR slot situation is so tight they need to schedule 2 77W flights within 15-20 minutes of each other.
Oops. Been a LONG day sorting out an idiot webhost company. Thanks.
As to the slot situation…. that’s Heathrow – full and not much capacity to spare. Of course, trading slots with others just causes more arguments….