Yes, today marks the final scheduled Cathay Pacific Cargo service to Manchester according to recent reports. Very sad to lose a service which can be traced all the way back to twice weekly Air Hong Kong Boeing 707's. Hands up if you remember the Hong Kong Bong! At its peak, Manchester often saw three Boeing 747 freighters per day on this service with two in Cathay's own colours and a Dragonair example … all absorbed into Cathay Pacific Cargo these days. Now we can't support two flights per week.
The forthcoming B777 passenger service will (eventually) support decent underfloor cargo uplift, but the fact that Cathay is prepared to let things slide with no cargo offering at all between May and December says it all. They will be like newcomers to the freight market by then. All the established relationships with forwarders defunct, contracts forged with replacement carriers. It must be party time in the UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Singapore. End of an era.