In 1946 Roy Farrell and Syd de Kantzow's beloved, battered wartime DC-3 touched down in Shanghai for the first time. On board was a cargo of morning coats and toothbrushes from New York, forging the first post-war supply route across the treacherous eastern Himalayas. The international airline now known as Cathay Pacific was born. Gavin Young tells the swashbuckling story of an empire of the air, a thrilling, action-packed adventure that began in an era closer to Biggles and biplanes held together by wire and safety pins than to our own. 'Pioneers like Farrell and de Kantzow would have had plenty of time to enjoy the dawn over Kangchebjunga. Would thye think of us with envy or contempt, cruising seven miles up with hundreds of passengers, air-conditioning, i-flight concerts, movies, hot four-course meals with an elaborate wine line and all mod-cons? . . . All this in forty years! Could the world have changed so much and so fast?' This is Gavin Young himself eloquently reflecting on the extraordinary changes in air travel. There can be little doubt where his own sympathies lie.

Contains a market research guide to the travel and tourism industry, including airlines, hotels, tour operators; travel agencies; E-commerce firms, cruise lines and car rentals. This book is useful for competitive intelligence, strategic planning, employment searches, or financial research.

Air transport in the Asia Pacific has undergone significant transformation in the last three decades. What was once a region in the shadow of larger and more prosperous continents such as North America and Europe is now at the forefront of expansion in commercial air-service networks, frequency and capacity, and the overall growth in the contribution of air transport to economies on regional and, in many cases, individual country levels. Despite this, it represents an area that is generally under-represented in the commercial air-transport academic literature. Air Transport in the Asia Pacific seeks to fill this gap. Against this context, the aim of the volume is to offer a contemporary snapshot of current academic research into commercial air transport in the Asia Pacific. While one volume cannot realistically address the complete range of identifiable issues, this book provides timely, specific and research-based studies authored by leading academics and practitioners.

Commercial aviation took shape in Hong Kong as the city developed into a powerful economy. Rather than accepting air travel as an inevitability in the era of global mobility, John Wong argues that Hong Kong’s development into a regional and global airline hub was not preordained. By underscoring the shifting process through which this hub emerged, Hong Kong Takes Flight aims to describe globalization and global networks in the making. Viewing the globalization of the city through the prism of its airline industry, Wong examines how policymakers and businesses asserted themselves against international partners and competitors in a bid to accrue socioeconomic benefits, negotiated their interests in Hong Kong’s economic success, and articulated their expressions of modernity.