LONDON – In continued blows to the cargo wing of the carrier, Cathay Pacific will cut capacity dramatically to 20% of pre-pandemic levels.
For context on how dramatic this is, the airline operated about 71% of pre-pandemic cargo capacity in November, showing how much the restrictions in Hong Kong are hurting the carrier.
At that point, the carrier had described its cargo operations as “consistently robust”, to which now, it isn’t so much.
“We will adopt measures to operate as many cargo services as possible while complying with the latest Covid-19 regulations,” Cathay said in an emailed statement Thursday.
November 2021 numbers for passenger traffic was about 12% of typical levels but for this month, it is expected to be as low as two percent.
The airline said it will “strive to maintain passenger connectivity with key destinations, although at reduced frequencies, under the confines of the place-specific and flight-specific suspension mechanism.”
The next review of Hong Kong’s COVID-Zero policy is expected to take place on January 20th, where the government will decide whether it will extend the ban on inbound flights from eight countries, with the UK and US being two of them.
