News
Cathay Pacific talks down hopes capacity will improve to 30% t of pre-pandemic levels by December
September 21st 2021
Cathay Pacific said yesterday its August traffic statistics show capacity languishing at 13% of pre-COVID levels, although this was an improvement on previous months. Read More »
But the Hong Kong carrier warned operational and passenger travel restrictions continued to constrain its ability to operate more flights. “As such, we now only expect to maintain similar passenger capacity levels to August 2021 for the remainder of the year, whilst being responsive to any unexpected changes in travel restrictions,’’ chief customer and commercial officer, Ronald Lam, said. “We maintain our focus on prudent cash management, targeting cash burn of less than HK$1 billion per month (US$128.4 million) for the rest of 2021.”
The airline company carried 135,353 passengers in August, an increase of 278.4% compared with a year ago, but a 95.3%t decrease over pre-pandemic August 2019. Passenger load factor increased by 26.5 percentage points to 46.4%t, capacity rose by 68.9%, but remained 86.9% below August 2019. The carrier transported 124,278 tonnes of cargo and mail; an increase of 21.7% against August 2020 but down 23 percent from 12 months earlier. Lam said market indicators suggested a strong peak season for cargo driven by the need for inventory replenishment against a backdrop of ongoing air capacity constraints and disruption to supply chains due to seaport congestion.
