Cathay Pacific (CX, Hong Kong International) will return to Russian airspace on November 1, with flights to and from the United States east coast once again overflying eastern Siberia when traversing the so-called polar route. Since March, Cathay Pacific and many other airlines have been routing their flights around rather than through Russian airspace, frequently adding hours to flight times and significantly increasing the carrier's operational costs.
Cathay Pacific said in a statement that strong headwinds and payload issues on flights to and from the US east coast were the driving forces behind the decision. "There are other major airlines overflying Russian airspace and there are no sanctions which prevent Cathay Pacific from overflying Russia. Cathay Pacific is compliant with applicable sanctions regulations," the airline said. "The Polar Route provides a safe, direct and the fastest flight experience to our customers travelling from the east coast of North America to Hong Kong."
Separately, in an October 28 operational note to pilots, Cathay Pacific said flights will be planned with “no dependencies on any airports within Russia, and none should be considered or allowed for."
Until March, Cathay Pacific passenger aircraft routings between Hong Kong and Vancouver International, Toronto Pearson, Chicago O'Hare, New York JFK, and Boston would typically transit Russian airspace. According to the ch-aviation schedules module, the airline is presently operating scaled-back passenger flights to all these airports except Chicago O'Hare. Cathay Pacific also operates scores of cargo-only flights to these and other airports across North America which would normally necessitate passing through Russian airspace. However, in their statement, the airline specifically referenced flights on the Hong Kong - New York JFK route.
"We operated two flights from New York to Hong Kong via the Atlantic Ocean recently, but this is only possible if complemented by strong seasonal jet stream winds in addition to other positive conditions that occur only very occasionally."
Skirting Russian airspace sees Cathay Pacific's A350-1000 operated New York-bound flights now blocked to complete the sector in 16 hours and the return flight scheduled to take 17 hours and 50 minutes. Returning to Russian airspace will see that flight cut back to around 15 hours.
