Qantas, Cathay Pacific make deal to launch new services

Qantas, Cathay Pacific make deal to launch new services

Agence France-Presse, Sydney, Australia

Tourism has received a major boost from an agreement between
Hong Kong and Australia to allow a doubling of flights between
Australian centers and the Special Administrative Region, the
government said on Friday.

The agreement, formalized late on Thursday, will mean an
immediate increase in flights from 35 to 55 a week between the
Hong Kong and Australian centers, with national carrier Qantas
Airways and Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific Airways both due to
launch new services.

Cathay will operate additional services to Sydney, Melbourne,
Brisbane and Perth while Qantas said it would look at developing
Hong Kong as a transit and stop-over point as well as a
destination in its own right.

Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon said the additional
capacity meant the Australian airline could look at developing
new services to London via Hong Kong, as well as additional
services between Australia and Hong Kong.

"Under the new arrangements, Qantas has the potential to offer
four Hong Kong-London flights immediately, increasing to seven
flights a week in 2006," he added.

Qantas and Cathay will be able to further increase the number
of flights to 70 by March 2006. Another Hong Kong-based airline,
Dragonair, will begin flights between Hong Kong and Sydney next
year.

The skies between regional Australia and Hong Kong have also
been opened up, paving the way for possible flights from centers
such as Broome and Cairns.

Acting federal Transport Minister Ian Campbell said the
agreement would provide a boon to both business and tourist
traffic, and may also push down prices through competition.

"This is an historic agreement and a huge leap forward for
tourism in Australia, opening wonderful opportunities for both
Hong Kong and Australia," Campbell told reporters in Perth.

"It will allow more competition and better prices, and better
access to a rapidly growing market for Australian carriers."

Australian airlines will be able to use Hong Kong as a
stopover for direct flights to London, with four services a week
available immediately, rising to seven by 2006.

In the past, Australian carriers have not been able to operate
services beyond Hong Kong to Britain.

The agreement marked the end of years of negotiations which
Campbell said had, at times, been trying.

"There have been issues that have been hard to resolve, and
both parties have walked away from the table in the past, but
last night we shook hands and did a deal," Campbell said.

He said he hoped the agreement would also re-ignite what had
been a stagnant market.

Qantas has been flying to Hong Kong since 1949 and currently
operates 28 services a week from Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and
Perth, with its discount carrier Australian Airlines also flying
three Cairns-Hong Kong services a week.