Everything you need to know.
Cathay Pacific Returns to Adelaide
Adelaideans will be pleased to hear that Cathay Pacific is finally making its return to the South Australian capital from 11 November 2025 offering three non-stop flights per week. For now, this service is only planned to run to 27 March 2026, although the airline is hoping to see the route become a year-round fixture.
- CX174 will depart Adelaide at 12:00pm on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday – arriving into Hong Kong at 5:40pm local time.
- CX173 will depart Hong Kong at 11:30pm each Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday – arriving into Adelaide at 10:30am the following day.
Travellers from Adelaide will take off on Cathay’s modern Airbus A350s which include fully lie flat beds in business class and spacious recliners in premium economy.
Cathay’s business class passengers along with frequent flyers holding Cathay Diamond, Qantas Platinum and equivalent Oneworld Emerald status can settle in pre-flight to the domestic Qantas Business Lounge. The Qantas Club will be the go-to for Cathay Gold, Qantas Gold and Oneworld Sapphire members.
Cathay to offer free WiFi on all flights
In August 2025, Cathay Pacific plans to roll out WiFi onboard across their entire fleet from the Airbus 321neo to their flagship A350s and Boeing 777s. WiFi will be available complimentary for all first and business class passengers as well as Cathay Diamond members in any class.
For those passengers who are not eligible for free WiFi, Cathay are offering three tiered plans based on length of connection:
- US$10 for one hour
- US$13 for up to six hours
- US$20 for over six hours, through the entire flight duration
While the six hour and entire flight plans can be paused, the one hour plans cannot be paused. Additionally, it is not possible to upgrade from the hour long option to a longer plan so once the 60 minutes are up, passengers would need to purchase an additional one hour plan.
Hong Kong Airlines to expand to Melbourne
Cathay Pacific will soon be facing increased competition on their Australia-Hong Kong routes as Hong Kong Airlines intends to extend its routes to Melbourne following its arrival in Sydney later this month. Hong Kong Airlines president Jeff Sun told the South China Morning Post they have secured the air traffic rights into Melbourne and will confirm services down the track.
The carrier will fly its Airbus A330 jets on the new routes, which, while notably dated compared to Cathay and Qantas, does boast business class flatbeds. Virgin Australia Velocity Gold and Platinum members travelling on Hong Kong Airlines will enjoy status benefits such as higher baggage allowance, priority check-in and boarding as the airline is a Velocity Partner.
