Cathay Pacific Airways announced Wednesday it will launch the first direct freighter service between Hong Kong and Chennai on Friday, connecting the world's two fastest growing economies of China and India.

The addition of this southeastern Indian port city of Chennai, formerly known as Madras, further expands Cathay Pacific's world cargo network and strengthens Hong Kong's position as the world's busiest international air cargo hub and gateway to the Chinese mainland.

The new freighter service, which operates via Bombay, India, will operate every Tuesday and Friday using a Boeing 747-200F freighter. It will depart Hong Kong at 2:05 p.m., arriving in Bombay at 5:25 p.m. local time the same day before continuing to Chennai later that afternoon and heading back to Hong Kong at 10: 15 p.m.. It arrives in the early hours of the following morning in good time for onward connections to the United States.

"Increasingly, Hong Kong's competitive proposition as a global cargo hub hinges on its ability to capture cargo transshipment business, the fastest growing segment in the air cargo market," said Cathay Pacific Director & General Manager Cargo Ron Mathison.

"Cathay Pacific's new service to Chennai will further enhance the transshipment potential between China and India, between India and the United States, through the Hong Kong hub," he added.

(Xinhua News Agency June 1, 2006)