Cathay Pacific hinted on Twitter at a new destination and finally yesterday (this morning) they announced that the new destination would be the Maldives (MLE).

The flights are as follows:

CX601 HKG1715 – 2125MLE 333 x125
CX602 MLE2335 – 0855+1HKG 333 x125

CX will be using A330 3-cabin aircraft, with economy, premium economy, and the reverse herringbone business class.

This is fantastic news for anyone who wants to go to the Maldives as award space has already been loaded and looks extremely good, with 2 seats every day the flight operates:

These seats are now bookable with Avios, which will cost 12,500 miles in economy one-way, and 25,000 miles in business one-way

Fuel surcharges are around ~$130 per person.

This is actually not very useful for American miles, given that the Maldives is in the Middle East/Indian Subcontinent Region, which will only allow routings through Europe. That means something like LAX-HKG-MLE will require two awards, and will be 85,000 miles for a one-way in business class or 97,500 miles for a one-way in first class (with the HKG-MLE segment in business).

Something that might look really interesting is using Alaska Miles, given that they do publish a chart to India/Middle East.

If Alaska allows HKG-MLE to be booked, that would mean a one-way award would only be 62,500 miles in business class, and only 70,000 miles in first, with a potential stopover in HKG!

Nonetheless, this is an excellent fully-flat way to head to the Maldives.

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