Cathay Pacific Airways on Wednesday announced that it will launch flights to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia's second major commercial city, with effect from Oct. 25. In a statement, the Hong Kong-based airline company said four-times-weekly service will operate through Dubai on the way to and from Hong Kong. The new service, to be operated by an Airbus A330-300 aircraft in a two-class configuration, will increase the airline's presence in the increasingly important Middle Eastern market, connecting business and leisure passengers to Cathay Pacific's extensive international network through the Hong Kong hub. Cathay Pacific launched its service to Riyadh in 2001 and the number of flights per week to and from that city will also be increased from five times a week to daily from Aug. 1, 2009 in response to sustained demand. The new service to Jeddah will offer Saudi Arabian travelers more flexibility and convenience when traveling to the Far East and beyond. Jeddah will become Cathay Pacific's 46th online passenger destination when flights begin and will mark the airline's latest destination launch since Chennai in June 2008. Cathay Pacific Director Corporate Development Ian Shiu said: “We are pleased to be able to add Jeddah to our extensive worldwide network. Demand to and from Saudi Arabia, and the Middle East in general, has held up remarkably well despite the impact of the current global economic downturn. We expect a good response to the launch of our latest destination.” Howeer, Cathay Pacific will reduce its services to Paris from 10 flights a week to daily from Sept. 1 and throughout the winter schedule except there will be 10 flights a week between Dec. 18, 2009 and Jan. 6, 2010. __
