Cathay Pacific Announces Weekly Freighter Service to Brisbane West Wellcamp Airport

Cathay Pacific Airways today announced an expansion of its freighter services in Southwest Pacific with the addition of a weekly scheduled service to Brisbane West Wellcamp Airport in southern Queensland, Australia from 21 November 2016, subject to government approval.

It will become the first dedicated international freighter service to Brisbane West Wellcamp, and will operate on a Hong Kong - Sydney - Melbourne - Brisbane West Wellcamp - Hong Kong routing every Monday. Cathay Pacific will deploy its newest and biggest freighter, the Boeing 747-8F on the route, following a successful trial flight to Brisbane West Wellcamp Airport last year.

The Boeing 747-8F aircraft offers more cargo space to carry the anticipated high volumes of fresh produce from one of Australia's most productive agricultural regions as well as machineries needed to support mining projects and other manufacturing activities in the local and surrounding regions.

The service will meet growing demand to move a wide range of commodities from southern Queensland and its catchment area to key markets in Asia, Europe and North America, providing shippers with greater choice and flexibility when connecting to Cathay Pacific's international cargo network through the Hong Kong hub.

Cathay Pacific Director Cargo Simon Large said: "Cathay Pacific is always looking for opportunities to grow our freighter business, and at the same time boost Hong Kong's standing as one of the world's key international airfreight hubs.

"With our successful Boeing 747-8F trial flight into Brisbane West Wellcamp last year, followed by strong support from the community of southern Queensland, we are excited to introduce this new service to support shippers in the region. With growing demand from Mainland China for Australia's agricultural products, we are confident our service will provide local businesses with a competitive advantage as the benefits of the new China-Australia Free Trade Agreement increase."

In addition to the scheduled twice-weekly freighter services to Sydney and Melbourne, Cathay Pacific also operates more than 70 weekly passenger flights between Hong Kong and Australia. The bellies of these passenger aircraft also carry a significant volume of cargo between Sydney, Brisbane, Cairns, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth in Australia and Hong Kong, and beyond via the Hong Kong hub.

Details of Cathay Pacific's new Brisbane West Wellcamp (WTB) freighter service are as follows:

Hong Kong (HKG) - Sydney (SYD) - Melbourne (MEL) - Brisbane West Wellcamp (WTB) - Hong Kong (HKG)

All times local

*All times tentative and subject to government approval.