International flights to Perth, Western Australia, are set for a major ramp up with long-time favourite Cathay Pacific Airways increasing flights, and China Southern Airlines and Thai International set to return later this year.

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And on the horizon for 2024 is Chinese carrier Sichuan Airlines with flights to the home of the giant Panda, Chengdu.

Leading the increase in international flights is Cathay Pacific which will increase its flights to Hong Kong from three a week to five and sources in China tell AirlineRatings.com that the airline will move to six a week in February and daily in March.

Before the pandemic, Cathay Pacific was operating 10 flights a week to Perth.

According to travel industry sources Thai International and China Southern Airlines are planning a return to Perth. Details are still limited but it is understood that China Southern is close to announcing a date.

Before the pandemic Thai, which has retained its Perth sales office, operated a daily flight to Bangkok and China Southern Airlines three times a week to Guangzhou.

Sichuan Airlines is a large Chinese airline with 187 aircraft linking 94 destinations including Sydney and Melbourne. In all the airline serves 43 international destinations.

Sichuan operates Airbus A330s to Australia with a variety of configurations but typically 24 business and 281 economy seats.

News of the planned services follows the launch of Indonesia AirAsia’s new Perth to Jakarta service on June 2.

AirAsia is the only airline flying direct between Jakarta and Perth post-pandemic and the service is supported by the Western Australian Government through Tourism Western Australia (TWA) and Perth Airport. The direct service will initially run four times a week with plans to grow in line with demand.

The travel industry also expects a firm announcement shortly from South African Airways on its return to Perth.

But it's not all good news after Garuda finally agreed to refund cancelled tickets indicating it will not return to the Perth-Bali route.