British Airways Plc and Virgin Atlantic Airways can start flying to Sydney via Hong Kong, while Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd won the right to fly between London and New York, after the Hong Kong and UK governments reached an expanded air services agreement.

　　Under the new agreement, airlines from both sides can operate an unlimited number of flights to between the UK and Hong Kong.

　　They are also allowed to sell tickets on each other's flights on certain routes, said Wilson Fung, deputy secretary for Economic Development and Labor Bureau of Hong Kong.

　　He declined to say which routes.

　　The agreement will allow Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Atlantic to link up with its low-cost Australian affiliate Virgin Blue Pty. It also means Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific can offer an around-the-world service stopping in London, New York and Vancouver.

　　"A deal is done," said Andrew Pyne, Cathay's general manager of international affairs and alliances.

　　The agreement, which is subject to approval by the European Commission, "could take months or years" to come into effect, he said.

　　Cathay will join UAL Corp's United Airlines, AMR Corp's American Airlines, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic offering flights between London's Heathrow airport and New York's John F. Kennedy airport.

　　Virgin Atlantic, which is 49 percent owned by Singapore Airlines Ltd, will start flying to Australia from London as early as the second quarter next year, initially using Airbus SAS A340-600 planes before switching to Boeing Co 747s, said Paul Moore, a spokesman for the London-based airline.

　　The airline will eventually use the Airbus A380 superjumbo on the route, which will stop for two hours in Hong Kong en route, Moore said.

　　"Everyone at Virgin Atlantic has long wished for us to operate to Australia and today's deal between Hong Kong and the UK means our ambition will soon be reality," Branson, who is chairman of the airline, said in a statement.

　　Currently, Qantas Airways Ltd, Australia's largest carrier, and Cathay are the only airlines flying between Hong Kong and Australian cities.

　　UK carriers won seven weekly flights with so-called fifth-freedom rights, allowing them to drop off and pick up passengers in Hong Kong en route to Sydney, people involved in the negotiations said.

　　Hong Kong carriers got seven weekly flights to drop off and pick up passengers in London on the way to New York, they said.

　　At the moment, UK and Hong Kong carriers operate a total of 49 passenger and cargo flights a week between each other.