Cathay Pacific Airways was founded on 24 September 1946 by Australian Sydney de Kantzow and American Roy Farrell, initially based in Shanghai. Both men were ex-air force pilots Farrell purchased the airline's first aircraft, a Douglas DC-3, nicknamed Betsy, in New York on 6 October 1945. The company began freight services in January 1946 with two DC-3s between Australia and China.  (its first commercial flight was a shipment of clothes from Sydney to Shanghai), but the profitable business soon attracted attention from Republic of China government officials. After several instances where the company's planes were detained by authorities in Shanghai, on 11 May 1946 the company relocated, flying its two planes to Hong Kong.

The airline initially flew routes between Hong Kong, Sydney, Manila, Singapore, Shanghai, and Canton, while scheduled service was limited to Bangkok, Manila, and Singapore only.In 1948 Butterfield & Swire (now known as Swire Group) bought 45% of Cathay Pacific, with Australian National Airways taking 35% and Farrell and de Kantzow taking 10% each. The new company began operations on 1 July 1948 and was registered as Cathay Pacific (1948) Ltd on 18 October 1948. 

In 1959, Cathay Pacific acquired Hong Kong Airways, and became the dominant airline in Hong Kong.Between 1962 and 1967, the airline recorded double digit growth on average every year and became the world's first airline to operate international services to Fukuoka, Nagoya and Osaka in Japan. In 1964, it acquired its first jet engine aircraft, the Convair 880.In the 1970s, Cathay Pacific installed a computerised reservation system and flight simulators. In 1979, the airline acquired its first Boeing 747 and applied for traffic rights to begin flying to London in 1980, with the first flight on 16 July. 

Expansion continued into the 1980s, with nonstop service to Vancouver in 1983, with continuing service on to San Francisco in 1986.In January 1990, Cathay Pacific and its parent company, Swire Pacific, acquired a significant shareholding in Dragonair, 

On 1 July 1997, the administration of Hong Kong was transferred from the UK to the People's Republic of China as part of the Hong Kong handover. Most of the airline's aircraft were registered in Hong Kong with a registration beginning with "VR". Under the terms of an agreement all registrations were changed by December 1997 to the prefix "B" used by the People's Republic of China.On 21 May 1998, Cathay Pacific took the first delivery of the Boeing 777-300 at a ceremony in Everett. 

On 21 September 1998, Cathay Pacific, together with American Airlines, British Airways, Canadian Airlines, and Qantas, co-founded the Oneworld airline alliance.On Monday, 6 July 1998, Kai Tak International Airport saw its last commercial departure, Cathay Pacific Flight 251 to London Heathrow Airport, after over 73 years of operation. The next day, Cathay Pacific Flight 889 from New York was the first arrival to the new Hong Kong International Airport at Chek Lap Kok, Hong Kong. 

The 2000's saw Cathay Pacific experience labour relations issues, while completing the acquisition of Dragonair. On 28 November 2002, the airline took delivery of its first Airbus A340-600. On 1 December 2005, Cathay Pacific ordered 16 Boeing 777-300ER aircraft. The airline also ordered 3 more A330-300 on the same day. On 7 August 2007, Cathay Pacific ordered five more wide-body Boeing 777-300ER .On September 28,2006, the airline underwent a shareholding realignment under which Dragonair became a wholly owned subsidiary but continued to operate under its own brand. Dragonair had originally planned significant international expansion. It was already operating services to Bangkok and Tokyo, and was to have a dedicated cargo fleet of nine Boeing 747-400BCF aircraft by 2009 operating to New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco and Columbus. It had also acquired three Airbus A330-300 aircraft to commence services to Sydney and Seoul. Later, In January 2016, Cathay Pacific announced it was rebranding Dragonair as Cathay Dragon.

In March 2009, the airline reported a record full-year loss of HK$8.56 billion for 2008, which was also the carrier's first since the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis. This has resulted in frequencies being reduced to certain destinations, ad hoc cancellations on other routes, deferred capital expenditure, parked aircraft and introduced a Special Leave Scheme for staff to conserve money. 

In 2010, Cathay Pacific had taken delivery of several new aircraft types, including the Airbus A330-300 and Boeing 777-300 ER.On 8 October 2016, Cathay Pacific retired their last passenger Boeing 747, with a farewell scenic flight around Hong Kong after over 35 years of service of the type. 

In 2017 Cathay Pacific started to received the new Airbus A350 aircraft which offered new levels of service and flying to destinations not economically viable before with a wide body aircraft. Thanks to the A350's reach and low cost, the airline started launching many new routes to Europe and expanding it's presence in the UK, Denmark and Germany.Today the airline has one of the most modern fleets in Asia, with a good quality of customer service and has won many awards for its highly regarded reputation and service standards.

History Source: Wikipedia.org