Cathay Pacific is planning to reach one-third of its pre-pandemic passenger capacity by the end of this year, the airline said. Cathay Pacific carried 253,907 passengers last month, an increase of 87.6% compared to August 2021 but a 91.3% decrease compared to the pre-pandemic level in August 2019.
Last week, the Hong Kong authorities eased certain pandemic-imposed restrictions giving the aviation industry much-needed relief. Immediately the airline released a statement saying it would gradually increase flying capacity in the coming months. Prior to the lifting of quarantine measures, Cathay had expected to reach 25% of pre-pandemic capacity by year-end.
In August 2022, Cathay’s passenger capacity was only 16% of the same month in 2019 before the pandemic, meaning it expects that to double by the end of the year.
Speaking on the forecast, Chief Customer and Commercial Officer Ronald Lam said: “While we will continue to add back more flights as quickly as is feasible to strengthen the network connectivity of the Hong Kong aviation hub, this will still take time as we build operational readiness and undertake a substantial amount of training and aircraft reactivation.”
He further added that cargo, which has contributed the bulk of the airline's revenue during the pandemic, had experienced flat demand in the summer months ahead of the peak year-end season. Cathay operated 59% of its pre-pandemic cargo capacity in August and forecast it would reach around two-thirds of 2019 levels by the end of the year. Earlier this month, the airline warned this year's peak cargo season may be weaker than last year's due to inflation and China's zero-COVID policies.
The airline expects the demand to remain solid in the last quarter. “Transit traffic between the Americas and Southeast Asia, and India is anticipated to be strong. In contrast, traffic between Australia, New Zealand, and other parts of our network is also expected to increase,” Lim concluded.
Cathay also plans to hire an additional 4,000 staff to fill operational needs over the next 18 to 24 months as travel rebounds.
The month’s revenue passenger kilometers (RPKs) increased 82.7% year-on-year but were down 86.1% versus August 2019. Passenger load factor increased by 22.2 percentage points to 68.6%, while capacity, measured in available seat kilometers, increased by 23.5% year-on-year but decreased by 83.8% compared with August 2019 levels. In the first eight months of 2022, passengers carried increased by 133.5% against a 1.6% increase in capacity and a 141.9% increase in RPKs.