Cathay Pacific Airways will begin twice weekly flights between Riyadh and Hong Kong beginning October 29, the airline announced.
The airline will use Boeing 777-200 aircraft with a seating capacity of 336 passengers on the route, a spokesman said. The airline said the Riyadh-Hong Kong flights will be operated on Mondays and Thursday and would be direct. CX732 will leave Riyadh at 12.30am to arrive in Hong Kong at 1.25pm the next day. The Hong Kong to Riyadh flights, CX733, will be routed through Bahrain leaving Hong Kong at 4.30pm and arriving in Riyadh at 11.20pm. Riyadh will be the third Middle East destination for Cathay Pacific. With the launch of the new service to Riyadh, it will operate a total of 18 passenger flights a week to destinations in the Middle East including seven a week to Bahrain and nine to Dubai. "With increasing trade relations between the Middle East and Asia and mainland China in particular, the importance of Hong Kong both as a destination in its own right and as a natural gateway is becoming more apparent," said the airline's regional manager for Middle East, India and Africa, Charles Bremridge.