Cathay Pacific is planning to increase the flight capacity in the coming months in the wake of Hong Kong lifting the quarantine restrictions. The stringent pandemic regulations by Hong Kong authorities had made rostering difficult and were creating problems with the day-to-day operations.
Cathay would continue to add the flights as quickly as possible but it would take time to rebuild capacity as it involves a substantial amount of crew training and reactivating stored aircraft. This, combined with other operational complexities, means that capacity can only be increased gradually over a period of several months, the airline said in a statement.
Cathay's passenger capacity was at just 12.4% of pre-pandemic levels in the month of July, although its cargo capacity was at 51% in part because cargo crews were no longer required to quarantine.
Going ahead, Cathay plans to hire an additional 4000 staff to fill the vacant posts in a couple of years.