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Cathay Pacific operates an all-wide-body fleet composed of Airbus A330, Airbus A340, Airbus A350 XWB, and Boeing 777 aircraft.
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Passenger aircraft
As of February 2017, the Cathay Pacific passenger fleet comprises the following aircraft:
Cargo aircraft
Cathay Pacific Cargo operates a fleet of over 20 freighters to more than 40 destinations around the world, in addition to utilising the cargo space on its passenger aircraft. The cargo subsidiary was established in 1981 with a twice-a-week Hong Kong–Frankfurt–London service operated jointly with Lufthansa. Cathay Pacific Cargo handles most of the airline's passenger cargo. Between its cargo routes and passenger routes, it serves more than 80 destinations.
Special liveries
In 1997, a Boeing 747-200 (B-HIB) named Spirit of Hong Kong, with a special livery, a big traditional Chinese brushstroke character "家" (means family/home), a traditional Chinese wording "繁榮進步 更創新高" painted on the left side of the aircraft and a wording "The Spirit of Hong Kong 97" painted on the right side of the aircraft, to commemorate the handover of Hong Kong back to China. On 17 January 2000, Spirit of Hong Kong made a return on a Boeing 747-400 (B-HOX) to celebrate the legendary resilience of Hong Kong with a new special livery depicts a young athlete overcoming a series of challenges to reach his goal. A special wording "Same Team. Same Dream." was painted on the left side of the aircraft and a traditional Chinese wording "積極進取 飛越更高理想" was painted on the right side of the aircraft. On 30 July 2013, Spirit of Hong Kong made another return, this time, on a Boeing 777-300ER (B-KPB). The livery features 110 people who represent the extraordinary spirit of Hong Kong people. The livery also has the wordings "The Spirit of Hong Kong 香港精神號" The livery is the result of an online contest held by Cathay Pacific to call on Hong Kong people to submit creative entries that illustrate the true spirit of the city – along with a full-body photograph of themselves. The judging panel then chose 100 winners and 10 champions – and their silhouettes have been painted on the aircraft.
On 5 July 2002, a Boeing 747-400 (B-HOY), named Asia's world city, carried a special livery, the "Asia's world city" brandline, the Brand Hong Kong logotype and the dragon symbol, to promote Hong Kong around the world.
On 29 August 2006, the airline took delivery of its 100th aircraft, an Airbus A330-300 with the registration B-LAD. For the aircraft acceptance ceremony in Toulouse, the aircraft was painted in a 100th aircraft livery with the wording "100th aircraft", and the traditional Chinese wording "進步精神" painted on the rear of the aircraft. The aircraft was named Progress Hong Kong, a name that was chosen from a competition by the staff.
In November 2011, Cathay received its second 747-8 Freighter (B-LJA) which was painted in the Hong Kong Trader livery. The livery was designed to commemorate the topping out of the new Cathay Pacific Cargo Terminal. The name of the livery is taken from Cathay Pacific’s very first 747 freighter which entered the fleet in 1982.
Currently, a total of three Cathay Pacific aircraft are painted in the Oneworld livery to commemorate the alliance's 10th anniversary. On 12 March 2009, Cathay Pacific's first Oneworld aircraft, an Airbus A340-300 (B-HXG), was painted in the new, standard Oneworld livery. An additional aircraft, an Airbus A330-300 (B-HLU), has also been painted in the Oneworld livery while a brand-new Boeing 777-300ER (B-KPL) was painted and delivered on 17 October 2009.
Fleet history
Since its inception in 1946, the airline had operated many types of aircraft. The first two aircraft were two World War II surplus Douglas DC-3s, named Betsy and Niki. Betsy (VR-HDB), the first aircraft for Cathay Pacific, is now a permanent exhibit in the Hong Kong Science Museum. Niki (VR-HDA) was lost, but a similar DC-3 was purchased as a replacement. It was refurbished and repainted by the airline's Engineering Department and maintenance provider, Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering Company, and it now wears the second Cathay Pacific livery from the late 1940s. This aircraft received Niki's old aircraft registration and is now on public view in the car park outside the Flight Training Center of Cathay City.