Cathay Pacific adds Sao Paolo and Rio de Janeiro to its network

The new services will offer the airline passengers ease and more choice when travelling to Brazil.

Cathay Pacific Airways announced Thursday that it has added the Brazilian cities of Sao Paolo and Rio de Janeiro to its network following an expanded code-share agreement with oneworld alliance partner American Airlines. The latest destinations will further boost the Hong Kong carrier’s presence in Latin America following the introduction of code-share flights to Mexico, Chile and Peru.

The two new services will offer Cathay Pacific passengers greater convenience and more choice when travelling to Brazil through the airline’s US gateway at John F Kennedy International Airport in New York. Under the expanded agreement, Cathay Pacific’s “CX” code will be placed on American Airlines’ daily services between New York and Sao Paolo and New York and Rio de Janeiro. Tickets for the new code-share services are now open for sale for travel commencing 5 December 2011, according to a Cathay Pacific report.

Cathay Pacific Director Sales & Marketing Rupert Hogg welcomed the additional code-share services with American Airlines, saying: “Brazil is now one of the biggest markets in Latin America and an increasingly important centre for business, manufacturing, tourism and trade. This new code-share will boost Cathay Pacific’s presence in Latin America and we look forward to carrying more tourists and business people from Hong Kong and the Asia Pacific region to Brazil.”

With the addition of Sao Paolo and Rio de Janeiro, Cathay Pacific now connects to a total of 25 destinations in the Americas through code shares with American Airlines.