Cathay Pacific scraps almost all flights

Saturday, 23 Mar, 2020 0

Cathay Pacific is all but shutting down until the end of May.

The airline is slashing passenger capacity by 96%, operating only a handful of flights to select destinations until then.

Cathay Pacific Airways will operate three weekly flights to just 12 destinations – London, Los Angeles, Vancouver, Tokyo, Taipei, New Delhi, Bangkok, Jakarta, Manila, Ho Chi Minh City, Singapore and Sydney.

Subsidiary Cathay Dragon will fly three times a week to Beijing, Shanghai and Kuala Lumpur.

"We need to take difficult but decisive measures as the scale of the challenge facing the global aviation industry is unprecedented," chief customer and commercial officer Ronald Lam said.

Since the outbreak first hit in Wuhan nearly three months ago, Cathay has been among the hardest hit airlines, following several months of plummeting demand in its home market due to the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong.

It is bracing for a large loss this year and has already asked staff to take unpaid leave.

"Our ability to maintain even this skeleton schedule will depend on whether more travel restrictions are imposed by governments around the world which will further dampen passenger demand," the airline said.

Cathay’s stock has plunged by nearly a third this year to its lowest level for more than a decade.

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Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.

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