Cathay Pacific Returning to Adelaide in November 2025

Cathay Pacific will resume direct flights from Adelaide to Hong Kong from 11 November 2025 for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Although Cathay previously ran Adelaide-Hong Kong as a year-round service until 2020, it will return later this year as a seasonal service running over the peak Australian summer and Chinese New Year period. The Oneworld alliance member will operate 3x weekly Airbus A350-900 flights from 11 November 2025 until 27 March 2026.

This is the third airline to recently announce seasonal international flights from Adelaide, with Qantas to resume Adelaide-Auckland flights and United to fly Adelaide-San Francisco during the upcoming Australian summer.

In 2023, Cathay Pacific had filed Adelaide-Hong Kong flights into its schedule with a planned resumption date of March 2024. But those flights were never put on sale, and were eventually removed from the GDS.

Cathay Pacific Adelaide-Hong Kong schedule

Cathay Pacific’s Adelaide-Hong Kong flights will run to the following timetable, departing from Hong Kong on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, and returning from Adelaide the following day:

• CX173 Hong Kong (HKG) 23:30 – Adelaide (ADL) 10:30 (+1 day)
• CX174 Adelaide (ADL) 12:00 – Hong Kong (HKG) 17:40

There is decent Classic Reward availability on this route

Cathay Pacific offers Economy, Premium Economy and Business Class seating on its Airbus A350-900.

There are currently a reasonable amount of Classic Reward seats available for bookings with Qantas Points, in all three cabins. Some flights have up to two seats in both Business and Premium Economy. The best availability can be found for travel dates in January 2026.

You could also book using another Oneworld frequent flyer program, such as Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan.

There’s even more award availability, though, if you book with Cathay Asia Miles!

Cathay Pacific is making up to four Business Class seats available to its own loyalty program members on many Adelaide-Hong Kong flights. These are available to book on the Cathay Pacific website – and also cost fewer miles compared to booking with Qantas Points!

You can transfer points from many Australian credit card reward programs to Cathay, including American Express Membership Rewards Points.

Cathay Pacific already flies to Hong Kong from Perth, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, as well as from Cairns during the peak summer season.

The Hong Kong-based airline recently launched new services to Hyderabad, Dallas/Fort Worth and Urumqi. Over the coming months, it will also relaunch flights to Rome, Munich and Brussels.

Matt Graham

The editor of Australian Frequent Flyer, Matt's passion for travel has taken him to more than 100 countries… with the help of frequent flyer points, of course!
Matt's favourite destinations (so far) are Germany, Brazil, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. His interests include aviation, economics & foreign languages, and he has a soft spot for good food and red wine.

You can connect with Matt by posting on the Australian Frequent Flyer community forum and tagging @AFF Editor.