Cathay Pacific has boosted services between Sydney and Hong Kong, upping the flight schedule to four times per day for the first time since early 2020.

Cathay Pacific Regional General Manager of Southwest Pacific, Frosti Lau, said the carrier is boosting capacity to meet the rising demand for international travel.

“We’re thrilled to resume pre-pandemic frequency of passenger flights between Sydney and Hong Kong,” he said. “We have a longstanding commitment to the Sydney market, and this service reaffirms our dedication to continuing to restore capacity and connectivity across the Cathay Pacific network.”

The increased services will see the introduction of a new daily flight – CX162 departing from Sydney at 10:55 and arriving in Hong Kong at 17:10, and CX161 departing from Hong Kong at 21:20 and arriving in Sydney at 09:35+1.

These services come in addition to Cathay Pacific’s existing daily flights – CX110/CX111, CX100/CX101and CX138/CX139 – and will be operated using the airline’s Airbus A350 aircraft, including the A350-1000, which have a total of 334 seats, including 46 fully flat Business class seats, 32 Premium Economy seats and 256 Economy seats.

The boost to Sydney flight services coincide with Cathay Pacific’s 49th anniversary of flying between Hong Kong and the Emerald City and are the latest of several Cathay Pacific schedule updates for the Australian market, after recent capacity increases announced for Brisbane and Perth.

The Cathay Group says it is on track to operate around 70% of its pre-pandemic passenger flight capacity by the end of 2023.