Cathay expands India freighter network

   Cathay Pacific said Tuesday it’s expanding air freight service between Hong Kong and India with the introduction of new flights to Hyderabad and Bengaluru (formerly Bangalore) in May.
   The airline will start twice-weekly freighter service to Hyderabad and add a third freighter connection to Bengaluru starting May 17.
   “India is an increasingly important market for our cargo business,” said Cathay Pacific Director Cargo Nick Rhodes. “Hyderabad is one of the major hubs for the manufacturing of pharmaceuticals in India, accounting for around one-third of the country’s drug production, so we expect a strong demand for our specialized Pharma LIFT products and services. For Bengaluru, we have been seeing increasing demand since we launched our freighter service last August and we believe the time is right for an additional flight each week.”
   The Hyderabad service will operate on a Hong Kong-Delhi-Bengaluru-Hyderabad-Hong Kong routing every Thursday and a Hong Kong-Chennai-Hyderabad-Hong Kong routing on Sundays. The third weekly flight to Bengaluru will operate via Mumbai on Saturdays, in addition to the current flights every Monday and Thursday.
   When the new services start, Cathay will operate 19 cargo flights a week to Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad.