Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific Airways announced the launch of a new weekly freighter service to Colombo, Sri Lanka, starting December, saying it is positioning itself to meet the growing demand for the country’s garment and perishable exports.
The Colombo freighter service will begin on December 2 and operate on a Hong Kong-Chennai-Colombo-Hong Kong routing every Sunday using one of Cathay Pacific’s Boeing 747-400F aircraft.
The airline said the new service into Colombo is a bid to boost its cargo presence in the South Asia region and cater to the huge volumes of garments and perishables bound for the North America, Europe, and Asia markets.
“Sri Lanka is home to major garment and footwear manufacturers producing goods for well-known international brands, and also has sizable exports of perishable products, including tuna and lobster,” said Nick Rhodes, Cathay Pacific’s director for cargo.
“We already carry sizable quantities of freight in the bellies of our daily passenger flights to and from Colombo, but the new freighter service will enable us to better meet the demand for Sri Lankan products in major markets around the world,” he added.
Photo: contri
