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Cathay Pacific in Profile
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Asia has always been a bastion of private enterprise though on the aviation scene most of its airlines have traditionally been state-owned. One carrier though stands out as an above-average performer, not only in Asia but throughout the world, that carrier is also relatively unique In being privately owned, that carrier is Cathay Pacific.
Cathay Pacific has its roots back in September 1946 when an Australian, Syd de Kantzow, and an American, Roy Farrell teamed to form Cathay Pacific Airways with a subscribed capital of two one-dollar shares! Farrell had a year earlier acquired a surplus Douglas C-47 (converted to passenger DC-3 specs) in the USA with the intention of taking advantage of the lack of organised civil air transport in the East following the end of World War II. Both men had flown the ‘Burma Hump’ together during the latter years of the war and were familiar with both the Dakota and the manner in which it could be used to pioneer a new airline to take advantage of the lack of c,ivil uplift at the time.
In their first three months, the small charter company had flown more than 3,000 passengers as far afield as Sydney and London. The need for air services was great and the single-plane operation soon grew rapidly to accommodate six more DC-3s and two Catalina flying boats. By 1948 demand was so great that scheduled services could be commenced between Hong Kong and the major cities of Asia. At this time, however, governments were moving to regulate the growth of airlines and their route and fare structure. To accommodate the changing environment Cathay required a new capital base with which to combat competition from emerging rivals and so Farrell and de Kantzow sold their shareholding to Butterfield & Swire (renamed John Swire & Sons in 1974).
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