As one of the biggest financial and commercial centers in the world, Hong Kong seems to be a natural choice for a non-stop flight from New York. However, owing to the considerable distances involved, it was only in the past 30 years that direct service from Hong Kong to New York was begun, with the first arrival at the airport, CX889, touching down from JFK at 6:25 A.M. on July 6th, 1998. Since then, Cathay Pacific has flown the 747-400, 777-300ER, A350-900/1000, and even the A340-600 during its brief foray with the type. Currently, Cathay Pacific flies between Hong Kong and New York City 3 times a day with the B77W, A359, and A35K.
Server: Solo
Airline: Cathay Pacific
Aircraft: Airbus A350-900
Origin: Hong Kong International Airport, Chek Lap Kok, Hong Kong (HKG)
Destination: John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York City, New York (JFK)
Flight Number: CX844
Route: VHHH-KJFK
Seat: 17K (Business)
Time En Route: 15 Hours 32 Minutes
Waiting to board our aircraft in the very early morning at Terminal 1
Taxiing out for departure by the Sky Bridge, which connects the main Terminal 1 building with the north satellite concourse. We’ve got the overhead lights dimmed so we can get some sleep after takeoff.
Heavy takeoff from Hong Kong’s Runway 25C. As we lift off into the fog, drops of condensation start to appear on our window.
Climbing through the cirrus layer over the South China Sea. We’ve got our seat, a Safran Cirrus III model, fully reclined for a couple of hours of sleep before breakfast.
Breakfast is served over Nagoya after 2 hours of flying. Today we’re eating a double feature of fruit (yogurt and seasonal fruits themselves), followed by a warm breakfast pastry of no immediately discernible specific type, seemingly engineered to capture the best qualities of a range of pastries. Whatever it is, it hits the spot!
Roughly halfway through our flight at 37,000 feet over the Bering Sea. This remote marginal sea is almost constantly absolutely abuzz with air traffic flying from Asia to North America and Europe. As a matter of fact, we hit some wake turbulence a few minutes ago from an Atlas Air 747-400BCF operating as GIANT 8691 (5Y8691) from Los Angeles to Seoul as we passed through 34,000 feet.
As for food, we had the second of a total of 3 meals that’ll be served on this flight. We had the seared beef tenderloin with thyme jus, served with sautéed asparagus, cherry tomatoes, and potato gratin. Once again, the meal was absolutely delicious, even if the presentation could have been better.
Final descent over the Hudson River and Manhattan Island as we approachthe LGA VORTAC on the LENDY8 approach, with Central Park towards the bottom left-hand corner. Unfortunately, sleep overcame us before we could have dinner on this flight, but the silver lining was that we slept almost 7 hours without interruption. In our opinion, that’s a more than acceptable trade-off!
Pre-dawn landing at JFK. Oddly enough, this eastbound trip from Hong Kong, one of the world’s longest flights, took 12 minutes less time to complete than our westbound flight from San Francisco. Shows just how strong Pacific headwinds are this time of year.
On the bridge over the Van Wyck Expressway as we make the long taxi to Terminal 8 on the port engine
Wide-angle shot of the short-body Cathay Pacific Raccoon at the Terminal 8 satellite concourse, shortly before heading under the tarmac to the main T8 and getting our bags. It’s been a long journey, with many tight schedules and unusually early departure times, but it was immense fun and a trip we might do again sometime.