Cathay Pacific flies into new territory with flights to Christchurch

When Cathay Pacific flight CX123 lands in Christchurch early tomorrow morning, it will be breaking new ground. The airline has been flying to Auckland for the past 35 years, but the new seasonal service will directly link the South Island to Hong Kong for the first time. The airline will fly three times a week for the next three months, adding another 11,000 seats and boosting the South Island economy by an estimated $12m. Cathay will use a near-new Airbus A350XWB, the same type of aircraft it introduced to the Auckland service just over a year ago. The 280-seat plane has 38 business class seats, 28 in premium economy and 214 economy seats. Cathay's country manager for New Zealand and the Pacific Islands, Mark Pirihi, said commercial partner Air New Zealand would code-share on the Christchurch route. The service is part of a joint venture agreement (JVA) with the New Zealand airline where the Government required both to show they were growing links with Hong Kong in return for allowing co-operation. <br/>