American Roy C Farrell and Australian Sydney H de Kantzow founded Cathay Pacific Airways in Hong Kong on 24 September, 1946. Initially based in Shanghai, the two men eventually moved to Hong Kong and founded Cathay Pacific Airways.The new company began to operate passenger flights to Manila, Bangkok, Singapore and Shanghai. Expansion was fast and, in 1948, one of Hong Kong's leading trading companies, Butterfield & Swire (today known as the Swire Group) took a 45% share in the company. The 1960s represented our coming of age. Between 1962 and 1967, business grew at an average rate of 20 percent a year. In 1967 Cathy Pacific initiated international services (another world's first) to Osaka, Fukuoka and Nagoya in Japan. In 1979 Cathy Pacific began flying the first of many 747's. Service was rapidly expanded to many parts of the globe.
