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Cathay Pacific Airways forecasts 25% of pre-pandemic capacity by December
July 18th 2022
Cathay Pacific Airways chief customer and commercial officer, Ronald Lam, said the Hong Kong-based airline expects to record pre-pandemic capacity levels of 25% by December as the outlook brightens for air travel. Read More » Capacity, or available seat kilometres (ASK), was 11% of pre-COVID-19 levels in June, the airline’s monthly traffic report said. “We continued to see positive developments in June following further adjustments to travel restrictions in Hong Kong,” Lam said. “On the passenger side, we expect travel sentiment will continue to improve in the coming months. Assuming current travel and operating restrictions at the time of this report remain unchanged; we anticipate we will operate about a quarter of our pre-pandemic passenger flight capacity by the end of the year.” The oneworld alliance member flew 150,077 passengers in June, up 159% month-on-month from 57,982 passengers transported in May. The June figure was 269.2% above the 40,651 passengers carried in the same month a year ago. For a comparison with pre-COVID-19 levels, Cathay Pacific recorded 3.1 million passengers in June 2019. The pandemic situation remained highly dynamic, Lam said, and added the airline must be agile in managing capacity.