80 Years Together

Cathay Cargo’s intermodal links with the Greater Bay Area date back to 1947, when Cathay Pacific bought two Catalina seaplanes, in part to serve runway-less Macao on lucrative cargo-only bullion flights.

In 1946, Cathay Pacific’s founders Roy Farrell and Sydney de Kantzow registered their airline in Hong Kong, operating an ex-US Army DC-3, nicknamed Betsy. In its first year, Cathay Pacific Airways carried 15 tonnes of cargo. In 2025, Cathay Cargo carried more than 100,000 times that volume. 

Cargo has always played an important role for Cathay Pacific’s business, but its significance was writ large in 1976 – on the side of a converted Boeing 707 freighter, which bore the words “Cathay Pacific Cargo” for the first time. 

In the ’60s, Cathay Pacific reached an inflection point: join the jet age or get left in its wake. In 1962, it bought two Convair 880s. By 1968, the fleet was all-jet – putting Cathay Pacific at the forefront of aviation.

1983 saw Cathay Pacific’s first flight to Vancouver, bringing to life the “Pacific” vision of the airline’s founders. To this day, the transpacific route continues to be Cathay Cargo’s busiest trunk route.

Cathay Pacific was thinking big in 1979 when its first passenger Boeing 747 joined the fleet. The jumbo jet marked a turning point and ended its time as a regional consolidator for other long-haul carriers, by allowing it to serve long-haul cargo routes.

Cathay Cargo took delivery of its first of 14 Boeing 747-8Fs (B-LJE) in 2011. The order brought new scale and efficiency to cargo operations, reinforcing the role of the 747 as the backbone of our cargo network.

Most of Cathay Cargo’s tonnage is carried in the belly holds of the passenger fleet, made easier by the capacious Boeing 777-300. Cathay was the launch customer for this “mini freighter” in 1998 – back then the longest aircraft in production.