Cathay Cargo resumes Ho Chi Minh City service

Cathay Cargo welcomed its first freighter flight to Ho Chi Minh City on April 4 after four years, following its suspension in December 2019 due to the pandemic. The weekly flight operates from Ho Chi Minh City every Thursday, with the freighter flying from Hong Kong to Hanoi, then to Ho Chi Minh City before returning home.

This will supplement Cathay Cargo’s current six freighter flights per week from Hanoi to Hong Kong.

Cathay Pacific has been operating passenger services between Vietnam and Hong Kong since 1949.

Testament to the significance of the Vietnamese market to its global freighter network, Cathay Cargo commenced full freighter services from Ho Chi Minh City and then Hanoi in March 2008.

In 2023, Cathay Cargo shipped an average of almost 2,000 tonnes of cargo from Vietnam every month, of which about 600 tonnes were carried on Cathay Pacific’s twice-daily passenger flights from Ho Chi Minh City.

These mostly comprised garments, footwear, fruit, and live and frozen seafood, headed to key destinations such as Hong Kong, the Chinese mainland, North East Asia, Australia, and North America.

In addition to greater cargo capacity, the resumption of the freighter service will give shippers in Ho Chi Minh City access to Cathay Cargo’s main-deck solutions, namely Cathay Expert1 for odd-sized shipments, as well as freight designated as 'Cargo-AircraftOnly', such as certain dangerous goods.

Ashish Kapur, regional head of Cargo, Southeast Asia of Cathay Cargo said, "Together with our existing twice daily passenger flights serving the city, the addition of our freighter service will give local businesses more choices, especially in terms of our specialised solutions that can be tailored to suit their needs."

Country manager for Vietnam and Cambodia, Nicolas Masse, said that the company’s team in Ho Chi Minh City has been eagerly awaiting the resumption of the freighter service.

“We have been working hard to ensure we are operationally ready on the ground and able to respond quickly to our customers’ needs, whatever they may be. Our team of experts are looking forward to working with our cargo handling agents to deliver the best service to our customers,” Masse said.

With an aim to become the world’s most customer-centric air cargo services brand, Cathay Cargo continues to invest in building its air-cargo expertise to deliver what customers want and to set it and the Hong Kong international aviation hub apart from competitors.

Recent investments include Ultra Track, a next-generation track-and-trace tool, putting purchase and confirmation into customers’ hands with Click & Ship, revamping the range of specialist handling solutions, infrastructural upgrades including the Pharma Handling Centre at the Cathay Cargo Terminal, and digitalising processes and using data to benchmark and measure performance.

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