Cathay Pacific is an Asian airline based in Hong Kong . It currently operates as a scheduled airline passenger and cargo. Its main basis is the Hong Kong International Airport , from where it operates flights to over 50 destinations in Africa , Asia , Europe , North America and Oceania . It is one of only six airlines that have been rated five-star Skytrax , along with Qatar Airways , Singapore Airlines , Asiana Airlines , Kingfisher Airlines and Malaysia Airlines .
Cathay Pacific was founded in Hong Kong on September 24 of 1946 by American Roy Farrell and Australian Sydney Kantzow, both former Air Force pilot and familiar with the route over the Himalaya Mountains. Each put $ 1 in Hong Kong to register the airline. At first they settled in Shanghai, but eventually moved to Hong Kong to start a new airline with Cathay Pacific. The story goes that the airline was conceived by Farrell and some foreign correspondents at the bar of the Manila Hotel. They called Cathay , as it was an ancient name given to China , and Pacific , Pacific Ocean, because they believed that one day fly across the Pacific Ocean to the United States . In the first flight of Cathay Pacific, Roy Farrell and Sydney de Kantzow flew from Hong Kong to Manila, and later to Shanghai. His only aircraft was a Douglas C-47 . More
