Cathay Pacific resumes Seattle flights amid expanded North American network

As of September 25th, Cathay Pacific intends to operate 114 weekly passenger departures between Hong Kong and North America during summer 2026. This figure includes increased frequencies on some routes but remains below the 141 weekly services offered before the pandemic in summer 2019. The reduction is partly due to discontinued routes such as Newark and Washington Dulles.

Despite recent additions like Dallas—now Cathay’s longest route—the total number of North American departures will be slightly lower than in summer 2025 because Toronto and Vancouver are each scheduled for two daily flights instead of higher previous frequencies. However, these schedules may change as airlines continue adjusting their plans for next year.

According to booking data from August 2024 through July 2025, about 1.9 million Cathay Pacific passengers traveling between North America and Asia connected onward at Hong Kong International Airport. The most popular markets included US-China, Canada-China, US-Philippines, US-Thailand, and US-Vietnam.

At the city level, leading origin-destination pairs were New York-Fuzhou, Toronto-Manila, Vancouver-Delhi, New York-Manila, New York-Shanghai, Los Angeles-Bangkok, New York-Guangzhou, Los Angeles-Manila, Toronto-Shanghai, and Vancouver-Manila.

With Seattle returning to Cathay’s network next year, Mexico City becomes Hong Kong’s largest unserved long-haul market by passenger volume (43,000 annual round-trips), followed by Honolulu (42,000). Other notable unserved destinations include Lisbon and Houston (38,000 each), Calgary (37,000), Las Vegas and Vienna (36,000 each), London Gatwick (35,000), Geneva (34,000), and Montreal (32,000).

Geneva stands out among these cities for its combination of strong local demand and high fares; this could make it a potential candidate for future service if Cathay chooses to expand further into Europe.