UAE travel: Cathay Pacific offers discounts on airfares to US, Japan, South Korea

Dubai: Hong Kong-headquartered Cathay Pacific has rolled out special discounts for UAE travellers on airfares to various destinations as part of the airline’s ‘JanOnPlanOn’ campaign. Travellers can enjoy savings of up to Dh300 for tickets booked until January 31 for travel between February 10 and December 31.

Cathay Pacific is offering fare discounts from Dubai to Hong Kong, Sydney, Melbourne, Seoul, and Tokyo. Travellers can also avail discounts to Narita, Haneda, Osaka, Ho Chi Minh, Guangzhou, Beijing, and Shanghai, the airline has said. However, the airline clarified that bookings must be made by the airline’s loyalty programme members while logged into their Cathay Member account.

It said the discount applies to Economy, Premium Economy, and Business class for the first 200 tickets in each class on a first-come, first-served basis.

The airline has also rolled out discounts of up to 10 per cent for student travellers. Cathay has said the students can also take advantage of additional baggage allowances. Students can enjoy discounts on fares from Dubai to the South West Pacific and Asian destinations such as Manila, Hong Kong, Osaka, Brisbane, Taipei, and more. Students need to possess an international student ID card, the airline explained.

The airline said Wednesday that the group has completed its two-year rebuilding journey, with its focus now firmly on adding more flights and destinations to reinforce Hong Kong’s international aviation hub status. In a bid to recover post-pandemic, the airline had launched multiple campaigns offering free tickets to travellers in partnership with Honk Kong's tourism authority.

According to its traffic figures for December 2024, Cathay Pacific and HK Express carried a combined total of more than 28 million passengers, marking an increase of 30.7 per cent year-on-year. Meanwhile, Cathay Cargo carried 1.5 million tonnes of cargo in 2024, 11 per cent higher than in 2023.

Cathay Pacific carried a total of 2,24 million passengers in December 2024, an increase of 26.4 per cent compared with December 2023. The month’s revenue passenger kilometres (RPKs) increased 27.9 per cent yearly.

Chief Customer and Commercial Officer Lavinia Lau said: “December is the traditional peak season for our travel business as customers visit friends and relatives and travel for leisure over the Christmas and New Year holidays.” Lau said, “In 2024, we achieved a significant milestone during the year-end travel peak with Cathay Pacific and HK Express carrying more than 100,000 passengers in a single day — the most since the start of our rebuild — on a total of eight days.”

Commenting on its forecast for 2024, the airline said it remains focused on adding more flights and destinations for passengers and cargo customers. “Just recently, Cathay Pacific announced the launch of direct flights between Hong Kong and Rome, starting in June of this year. As a Group, we have already announced six new destinations so far for 2025 as we strive towards reaching 100 destinations worldwide this year,” she said.

“With the Lunar New Year approaching, we are seeing bookings accelerate as customers plan their holiday travel after the Christmas season. After the Lunar New Year peak, we expect leisure travel demand from Hong Kong to be quieter, with our flights carrying more transit passengers leveraging our strong global network,” Lau added.