Cathay Pacific will introduce Airbus A350-1000 services to Melbourne and Perth later this year as it revamps services to Australia.
The airline on Thursday announced it will bring the biggest member of the Airbus A350 family to Melbourne from October 27 and start operations to Perth using the aircraft from October 28.
It will also start A350-900 services to Sydney from October 28, replacing A330s on CX111 and CX110.
The announcement comes after the airline confirmed earlier this week that it would suspend flights to Cairns from October 27 as it re-evaluates aircraft deployment as part of its ongoing business review.
It said Cairns would continue to be served by codeshare partner Qantas and measures were in place to reduce the impact on affected passengers.
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Cathay received its first A350-1000 in June 2018 and used it to later that year launch its longest route between Hong Kong and Washington, DC, route.
It has 20 A350-1000s on order and the arrival of more aircraft later this year has opened the way for its deployment on routes to Australia and New Zealand, where it will operate the bigger plane to Auckland from December.
The move means the majority of flights to Australia will be served by a member of the A350 family.
Like its Boeing 787 competitors, the high-tech aircraft has a higher cabin pressure that translates into a cruising altitude of 6000ft.
This helps fight fatigue and leaves passengers feeling better at the end of a flight. The cabins are also 50 percent quieter in terms of perceived noise.
Compared to the A350-900, the A350-1000 will add 54 passengers across its business, premium economy and economy class cabins to bring the total seat count to 334. That will translate to 46 in business, 32 in premium economy and 256 in economy.
The new plane will use the same business class and premium economy seats as the A350-900 and will come with a new economy seat with a bigger high definition inflight entertainment screen and LED mood lighting.
It also features the wi-fi connectivity Cathay is progressively installing across its fleet.
“We are prouder than ever to be the first airline to introduce the A350-1000 to Australia.
The new aircraft offers a more spacious and quiet cabin, which will further enhance our customers’ travel experience and wellbeing”.
