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Their hub is in Hong Kong International Airport, or "Chek Lap Kok International Airport". Kai Tak International Airport was used before Chek Lap Kok was built. Its IATA designator is CX.
The company flies around a million passengers a month to sixty-two destinations and carries around 80,000 tonnes of cargo through AHK ( Air Hong Kong). In 2001 the airline had a turnover of HK$ 30,436 million and made a profit of HK$ 657 million. The operating fleet numbers 75 aircraft, a mixture of Airbus and Boeing aircraft, and employs 14,500 people (2001).
Cathay Pacific Airways was founded in Shanghai on September 24, 1946 by an American and an Australian, Roy Farrell and Sydney de Kantzow, both ex-air force. They had a single Douglas C-47. The company initially flew routes between Hong Kong, SydneyThis is about the city of Sydney in Australia. For other meanings, see Sydney (disambiguation), or Sidney. Sydney Opera House Sydney is the capital city of the Australian state of New South Wales and Australia's largest and oldest city, founded in 1788., ManilaFor other meanings of the word, see Manila (disambiguation). Manila Maynila in Filipino) is the capital city of the Philippines. The city stands on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on the island of Luzon. Despite pockets of grinding poverty, it is one of t, SingaporeThe Republic of Singapore ( Chinese , pinyin: Xinjiapo Gonghegu Malay Republik Singapura Tamil , Cingkappur Kudiyarasu , is an island city-state in Southeast Asia, at latitude 1°17'35"N longitude 103°51'20"E, situated on the southern tip of Malay Peninsul, Shanghai, and GuangzhouGuangzhou ( TC: ; SC: ; Hanyu Pinyin: Gungzhu; Wade-Giles: Kuang-chou; Tongyong Pinyin: Guangjhou) is the capital of the Guangdong Province in southern China. Its international name was formerly Canton after a French language corruption of "Guangdong".. In 1948 Butterfield & Swires took a minority stake in the airline and soon came to have complete control over the day-to-day management, later acquiring 52% of Cathay Pacific. The airline is still part of the Swire GroupThe Swire Group is a transnational corporation headquartered in London, England. It controls a range of wholly-owned businesses, including deep-sea shipping, cold storage, road transport, and agricultural activities. Through its Hong Kong division, Swire through Swire Pacific.
The airline prospered into the 1960s, buying rival Hong Kong Airways in 1959, recording double digit growth until 1967, acquiring its first jet engined aircraft ( Convair 880Above Photo of first Convair 880 Photo Courtesy of Convair The Convair 880 was a jet airliner produced by the Convair division of General Dynamics. It was designed to compete with the Boeing 707 and Douglas DC-8 by being smaller, faster and safer, a niche) and beginning international routes to airports in JapanJapan (, Nippon/Nihon literally "the origin of the sun") is a country in East Asia situated on a chain of islands east of the Asian continent on the western edge of the Pacific Ocean. The largest of these islands are, from north to south, Hokkaido , Honsh. In 1966 the airline had carried a million passengers. Expansion continued throughout the 1970s and especially the 1980s, when an industry-wide boom encouraged route growth to many European centres and Cathay Pacific went public in 1986. The company was hurt by the Asian recession of the late 1990s, undergoing a reorganization and developing a new identity.
In 1996 the Chinese CITIC bought a 25% stake in Cathay Pacific. The Swire Group holding was reduced to 44% as two other Chinese companies, CNAC and CTS also bought substantial holdings.