Cathay Air Snuffs Out Smoking

<B> Cathay Air Snuffs Out Smoking</B>

By Robert Selwitz

Joining the throng, Cathay Pacific Airways will become a completely smoke-free airline effective Oct. 25.

Cathay already is sans-cigarettes on most of its routes, but totality will arrive this fall when the carrier extends its nonsmoking policy to those routes servicing Japan.

Cathay Pacific originally launched nonsmoking flights in 1990 and by 1993, virtually all of its aircraft, except for those flying to Japan, were tobacco-free.

According to an airline spokesperson, Cathay's anti-smoking motivation stems from "Recent research suggesting that 80 percent of our passengers are nonsmokers, and some of those who do smoke prefer to travel on nonsmoking flights.