2024-01-07 05:08:32
Hong Kong airline Cathay Pacific Airways will cancel an average of a dozen flights per day until the end of February, the company announced on Sunday, in order to avoid cancellations in the run-up to the Lunar New Year, a period very busy trip.
Cathay had to cancel some flights during the Christmas and end-of-year peak periods because its operations were overloaded, it said in a statement.
“Cathay has consolidated an average of six flight pairs per day for the remainder of January and February, focusing on routes with multiple daily frequencies, where possible,” the company added.
The carrier said it had reviewed its flight schedule and increased the number of pilots on standby to avoid any disruption in the coming weeks.
Cathay, which said in November it intended to hire an additional 5,000 people in 2024, has significantly reduced its staff in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and changed its employees’ contract terms.
Last month, the Hong Kong Aircrew Officers Association (HKAOA), which represents some of its pilots, said Cathay’s passenger business had 58% of the pilots it had before the pandemic.
In November, during a briefing for analysts, Cathay abandoned the goal of restoring its cargo and passenger capacity to pre-pandemic levels by the end of 2024, without giving a new date.
In October, passenger capacity was 62% of 2019 levels, and cargo operations were at 79%, the airline said. (Reporting by Lisa Barrington; Writing by Clarence Fernandez)
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