(TAN): The Cathay Pacific Group has released its combined traffic figures for August. The data indicates continued reduction in capacity by the airlines in response to shrinking demand. The travel restrictions and quarantine requirements in Hong Kong and other markets amid the ongoing global Covid-19 pandemic had a significant effect on traffic.
Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon carried a total of 35,773 passengers in August, down 98.8% compared to August 2019. The month’s revenue passenger kilometres (RPKs) fell 98.1% YoY. Passenger load factor dropped by 60 percentage points to 19.9%, while capacity, measured in available seat kilometres (ASKs), decreased by 92.2%.
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The data for the first eight months of this year shows that the number of passengers carried dropped by 81.7% against a 72.8% decrease in capacity and a 79.2% decrease in RPKs, as compared to the same period for 2019.
Speaking on the group’s August traffic figures, Cathay Pacific Group Chief Customer and Commercial Officer Ronald Lam said, “We operated just 7.8% of our normal capacity — a marginal increase from 7.1% in July — however our overall passenger volume was down month on month and our load factor dipped below 20%.”
Lam said that lifting of the ban on transit flights departing from the Chinese mainland via Hong Kong in mid-August helped to generate reasonable demand towards the end of the month. However, he was quick to add that on the passenger demand front, no signs of immediate improvement are seen.
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“It is clear that we are facing a long and uncertain road to recovery… the environment will continue to be extremely challenging for many years. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has pushed back its forecast for passenger recovery by a year to 2024, demonstrating just how slow a return to pre-pandemic levels will be,” said Lam. He welcomed the Hong Kong government’s move to engage in discussions with 11 countries on the establishment of travel bubbles.
Lam also informed that Cathay will be transferring approximately 40% of their passenger fleet to locations outside Hong Kong for storage and maintenance purposes.
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