KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA - CATHAY Pacific Airways will launch its fourth direct flight to Hong Kong through the airline's Penang hub next month.

In a statement today, the airline said the new additional A330 non-stop flight will start service from June 5, increasing its flight frequency to four times direct weekly and complementing the three times weekly services to Hong Kong via Kuala Lumpur.

Effective from June 6, the daily flights, namely Hong Kong-San Francisco, Hong Kong-Shanghai and Hong Kong-Beijing, are the additional destinations with convenient connnecting flights from Penang via Hong Kong, it said.

There will be no change with Cathay Pacific's existing service on other days of the week.

The additional direct CX693 Hong Kong to Penang service, which operates every Thursday, is scheduled at a departure time of 1600 hours, enabling more connections from the Cathay Pacific and Dragonair, the airline said.

It added that the initiative served to further enhance its service to passengers.

Cathay Pacific also said that it will continue to actively promote Malaysia across its network this year with the government's decision to extend 'Visit Malaysia Year' from 2007 to 2008.