Cathay Pacific Airways this week launched a second daily nonstop flight from San Francisco to Hong Kong, responding to ever-increasing demand due to economic expansion in Asia and special events, notably the 2008 Olympic Games coming up in Beijing.

Cathay Pacific already has reservations that are Olympics-related, said Anthony Tyler, the airline's chief executive, who said he believes the Games will trigger greater interest in Asia when they take place and thus long-term benefits for the airline, just as Australia benefited from exposure during the 2000 Sydney Summer Olympics.

The Hong Kong-based airline three years ago moved its North American headquarters from Los Angeles to San Francisco and has had a flight from San Francisco to Hong Kong since 1998. It departs at 1:20 a.m. The second flight, added Thursday, departs at 1:35 p.m.

The additional service was celebrated with a traditional Chinese lion dance at the departure gate at San Francisco International Airport's International Terminal.

United Airlines and Singapore Airlines also have daily flights from San Francisco to Hong Kong.

Last year, Cathay Pacific greatly expanded its Asian service when Hong Kong Dragon Airlines, better known as Dragonair, became its wholly owned subsidiary. Dragonair flies to 21 destinations in China, and the deal overnight gave Cathay Pacific a network in China better than any other airline apart from those based in the mainland, said Tyler.

"It really catapulted Cathay Pacific into the pole position in China," Tyler said during a recent visit to San Francisco.

Tyler was en route to Boeing's facility near Seattle to take delivery of the first of 23 777-300ER airplanes the carrier has ordered. Cathay Pacific currently flies Boeing 747 airplanes, which carry 383 passengers, to Hong Kong, but they are to be replaced by the new ER, for extended range, which will carry 301 passengers.

Cathay Pacific serves China, other Asian destinations and India from Hong Kong, and the service is expanding, said Alan Wong, the company's senior vice president for the Americas, in San Francisco. "I don't think we could find a better time to launch our second flight from San Francisco," he said.

China's National Tourism Administration said it anticipates China will receive 129 million visitors from overseas this year, 5 million more than in 2006. In part, the growth will be driven by the 2008 Olympic Games as well as the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai.

Tyler added, "Being where we are based, on the edge of the world's fastest-growing economy and world's fastest-growing aviation market, it gives us a luxury that a lot of other airlines would love to have."

Other airlines have recently won new Asian routes as well. The U.S. Department of Transportation awarded United Airlines a coveted daily nonstop route between San Francisco and Guangzhou, China, in the Pearl River Delta area 120 miles northwest of Hong Kong, beginning March 25. The department also awarded Delta Air Lines a route between Atlanta and Shanghai, beginning in April.