Cathay Pacific Orders 14 More Airbus Aircraft

Cathay Pacific said Wednesday it exercised purchase rights for 14 more Airbus jets — 11 A330-900 widebodies and three A321neos for HK Express. [Cathay Pacific orders 14 Airbus aircraft to expand its fleet — Reuters] [Cathay Group orders 11 A330-900 and 3 A321-200NX jets — ch-aviation]

The 11 A330-900s lift Cathay's firm commitment for the type to 41, on top of the 30 ordered in 2024, and will gradually replace its existing regional widebody fleet. Deliveries run from 2031 to 2035. The price is discounted below a basic $5.11 billion. [Cathay Pacific orders 14 Airbus aircraft to expand its fleet — Reuters] [Cathay Group orders 11 A330-900 and 3 A321-200NX jets — ch-aviation]

The widebodies are the replacement cycle: they'll serve regional Asian routes first, with longer-haul work possible later, in the airline's words. Airbus lists the A330-900, powered by Rolls-Royce Trent 7000 engines, at up to 8,100 nautical miles of range. The three A321neos build on the group's 2023 order for 32 A320neo-family aircraft and go to HK Express, the budget arm, for mainland China and other short-haul routes; the carrier already operates 17 A321neos, with eight more awaiting delivery before this order, per ch-aviation data. [Cathay Pacific orders 14 Airbus aircraft to expand its fleet — Reuters] [Cathay Group orders 11 A330-900 and 3 A321-200NX jets — ch-aviation]

The group's totals are the scale of the program: the new commitments take planned aircraft deliveries from 2026 to 120, against a plan of 150 new aircraft, and ch-aviation reports a fleet target of about 300 aircraft by 2036. Fourteen jets is a modest headline next to those numbers — what it locks in is the shape of the regional fleet into the mid-2030s, a decade of A330neo flying decided on one Wednesday announcement. [Cathay Pacific orders 14 Airbus aircraft to expand its fleet — Reuters] [Cathay Group orders 11 A330-900 and 3 A321-200NX jets — ch-aviation]