Hong Kong flag carrier Cathay Pacific will expand its network by resuming flights to Rome from June 5-October 25, 2025. The move comes after the airline recently announced that it would expand its network to 100 destinations in 2025 along with its low-cost subsidiary HK Express. The new routes include direct services to North America, Europe, and South and North Asia.
When will Cathay start flights to Rome?
Cathay Pacific’s direct flights between Hong Kong and Rome will take off from June 5-October 25, 2025. The new service will run thrice a week — on Mondays, Thursdays, and Saturdays — and flights will be roughly 14 hours long. Passengers will travel between the two cities on Airbus A350-900 aircraft and can book Economy, Premium Economy, and Business class seats.
ROUTE | DEPARTURE TIME | ARRIVAL TIME |
Hong Kong-Rome | 12:45am | 7:50am |
Rome-Hong Kong | 11:45am | 5:20am (next-day arrival) |
Hong Kong’s flagship carrier stopped flying to the Italian capital in February 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The resumption of Cathay’s non-stop service to Rome coincides with the Catholic Church’s 2025 Year of Jubilee, which will see a variety of celebrations take place in Vatican City and Rome this year. The airline already operates five return flights every week to Milan, which will become a daily service this summer.
Which other routes is Cathay Pacific adding in 2025?
Last year, Cathay revealed that it would add more destinations and flights to its network, in conjunction with its low-cost subsidiary HK Express — bringing the combined number of passenger routes to 100. It will add Munich and Dallas Forth Worth to its list of destinations for the first time, and once again fly to Brussels and Hyderabad later this year. In addition, there will be four weekly trips each to Madrid and Barcelona, with the latter being a summer-only service.
Cathay will also operate more than 90 return passenger flights a week to Europe, which will include daily services to London, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Manchester, Milan, Paris, and Zurich. The airline also plans to have 108 return trips in its North American network before the summer, courtesy three return trips a day to New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles, as well as a daily return flight to Boston and Chicago. There will also be two daily return services to Vancouver and 13 return flights to Toronto every week.
HK Express has so far announced only the addition of a direct service to the Japanese city of Sendai in 2025. However, the budget carrier emerged as the fastest growing airline of 2024, as it had a 46% increase in flights last year, thanks in part to new routes from Hong Kong to Sanya, Clark, Penang, Phu Quoc, Shizuoka, Hiroshima, and Hualien.
Header image credits: sorincolac via Canva