Cathay Pacific expects to be running about a third of its pre-pandemic passenger capacity by the end of the year.
While the target is double the availability operated in August, the Hong Kong carrier admitted it was taking time to undertake a “substantial amount” of training and aircraft reactivation.
“This, combined with other operational complexities, means that capacity can only be increased gradually over a period of several months,” said chief customer officer Ronald Lam.
“As the market and operating conditions further improve moving forward, we will aim to add back more flights where feasible.”
He was speaking as the airline disclosed August carryings of 253,907 – 91% down on the equivalent month in 2019 – with a load factor of 68.6%.
Last month’s traffic figures continued to reflect the positive impact of further adjustments to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government’s travel restrictions and quarantine requirements, notably the mandatory hotel quarantine arrangement for inbound travellers, according to the airline.
Lam said: “Following the Hong Kong SAR government’s adjustment to the hotel quarantine arrangement for travellers entering Hong Kong from 12 August, we observed an increase in inbound traffic to our home hub.
“This was particularly so for long-haul traffic from the US, Canada and Europe. Meanwhile, our passenger flight capacity to the Chinese mainland remained restricted, although we were able to resume carrying passengers to Zhengzhou, Qingdao and Xiamen in August.
“Student traffic from the Chinese mainland to the US represented a significant portion of our passenger traffic last month.
“On top of our existing services to New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco, we resumed flights to Chicago and Boston in August for the first time this year to cater to the strong demand. As a result, our US-bound flights managed 80% load factors.
“Apart from student traffic, our US routes were also boosted in the other direction by transit traffic travelling to Southeast Asia, the result of greater connectivity from increased flight frequency.
”Looking ahead, we welcome the Hong Kong SAR government’s adjustments to the mandatory quarantine arrangements for locally based aircrew arriving in Hong Kong earlier this month.
“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 added: “We expect that demand will remain solid going into the fourth quarter. Transit traffic between the Americas and Southeast Asia and India is anticipated to be strong, while traffic between Australia, New Zealand and other parts of our network is also expected to increase.
“As more regional destinations such as Japan continue to adjust their inbound travel policies, we will continue to monitor demand and adjust our passenger flight capacity accordingly.
“We intend to add about 200 pairs of passenger flights in October, primarily to regional destinations such as Osaka, Seoul, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Manila, and also to long-haul destinations such as Vancouver, Sydney and Melbourne.”
Meanwhile, Cathay Pacific signed an agreement for the supply of 38 million US gallons of blended Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) to be delivered over seven years from 2025 from San Francisco international airport.