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Cathay Pacific
- IATA/ICAO Code:
- CX/CPA
- Airline Type:
- Full Service Carrier
- Hub(s):
- Hong Kong International Airport
- Year Founded:
- 1946
- Alliance:
- oneworld
- CEO:
- Ronald Lam
- Country:
- China (Special Administrative Region)
- Region:
- Asia
Last year, Hong Kong's flag carrier airline Cathay Pacific celebrated 75 years since its establishment in September 1946. The company has come a long way in that time, and now operates a diverse fleet of nearly 200 aircraft. Consisting entirely of jet-powered designs, let's take a closer look at its exact makeup.
Airbus narrowbodies
According to ch-aviation.com, Cathay Pacific currently has 187 aircraft in its fleet. Starting off small, we can see that 15 of these are narrowbody planes from European manufacturer Airbus. These come from both its original A320ceo series and the new A320neo family. The oldest are its four A320s, at 19 years on average.
Meanwhile, the A321 is younger than its smaller counterpart at Cathay Pacific. Indeed, the airline presently has four in its fleet, and these twinjets are 18 years old on average. However, these and the A320s are presently inactive.
The future of Cathay Pacific's narrowbody fleet is plain to see, in the form of the next-generation A321neo. Although the airline presently has just seven in its fleet (with an average age of one year old), it has another nine examples on order. Each of them has a two-class layout, with 190 economy and 12 business seats.
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Boeing widebodies
Cathay Pacific has a worldwide footprint; as such, the bulk of its aircraft are long-haul widebodies. These come from both sides of the dominant Airbus-Boeing duopoly. Starting with the latter of these planemakers, Cathay Pacific flies an impressive 58 aircraft from the US manufacturer's popular 777 twinjet family.
Of these, 17 are examples of the standard 777-300, with the remaining 41 being the extended range 777-300ER version. The 777-300ERs are comfortably the younger model, clocking in at just 9.9 years old on average, compared to 21 for the standard 777-300s. Cathay Pacific also has 21 next-generation 777-9s on order.
Hong Kong's flag carrier is also a key player in the cargo market. It uses Boeing widebodies for this aspect of its operations as well, including six 747-400ERFs at an average of 13.7 years old. The rest of its freighters are examples of the newer 747-8F, of which it flies 14. These cargo-carrying quadjets are somewhat younger and come in at 9.6 years old on average. Just one is currently inactive.
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Airbus widebodies
Finally, Cathay Pacific also operates widebodies from two Airbus families. The most common is the A330, with the airline operating 51 examples of the A330-300, making it the carrier's most numerous type. These twinjets are 16 years old on average, and, historically speaking, Cathay Pacific has flown a further 28 examples. At the time of writing, just 24 of the 51 were currently active.
By far the most modern widebodies in the present Cathay Pacific fleet are its Airbus A350s, of which it flies a total of 43. This figure spans both variants, with this section of its fleet having 28 (21 active) A350-900s and 15 (all active) A350-1000s. On average, these twinjets are 4.8 and 3.3 years old respectively. Cathay Pacific also has a further two -900s and three 1000s on order.
What do you make of Cathay Pacific's current fleet? How many of the Hong Kong flag carrier's various different aircraft types have you flown on? Let us know your thoughts and experiences in the comments!