Lately, there has been news (all over the place) about Cathay Pacific aircraft changes and flight cuts on journeys to North America this year. In this post, I will summarise all the latest update so far.
Chicago – Switching From B777-300ER to A350-1000 (No More First Class)
As of 1st June 2020, Cathay Pacific will be operating the A350-1000 instead of the B777-300ER for their daily Chicago flights. With this move, there will no more First Class service. Business Class seats will be cut down from 53 to 46 seats. For miles gamers, we are likely to see lesser redemption space in the future, and of course, no more First Class seat redemption.
New York
Before 25th October (Existing): 25x weekly flights
- 3x daily flights to New York JFK with B777-300ER (with First Class) – Total 21 flights per week
- 4x weekly flights to Newark with A350-900
25th October onwards: Currently on GDS and Expertflyer it is only showing 18x weekly as following:
- 1x daily flight to New York JFK with B777-300ER (with First Class) – Total 7 flights per week
- 4x weekly flight to New York JFK with A350-900
- 1x daily flight to Newark with A350-900
Cathay Pacific has mentioned that they will be maintaining 25x weekly flights to New York. Winter schedule is still being organised at the moment.
Nevertheless, should Cathay Pacific choose to replace certain B777-300ER flights to A350, First Class and Business Class redemption opportunities are likely to be affected. With the switch from the B777-300ER to the A350-900, Business Class seats will be cut down from 53 to 38 seats.
New York – Vancouver Flight to be Discontinued
In September 2019, the airline announced that they will be discontinuing their New York to Vancouver flight in spring 2020. This route is currently operated by a B777-300ER and the airline has been operating this route since 1996 (24 years).