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Home » cathay pacific » Cathay Pacific Cuts Capacity, Axes Longhaul Routes
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Cathay Pacific Cuts Capacity, Axes Longhaul Routes

Matthew Klint Posted onSeptember 12, 2019November 14, 2023 3 Comments

a woman serving a man in a restaurant

Cathay Pacific is responding to depressed demand by cutting or reducing a number of longhaul routes.

August was a horrible month for Cathay Pacific, its worst since the 2003 SARS outbreak. Overall passenger traffic declined 11.3% versus the previous August, with a lopsided 38% reduction in the number of inbound passengers to Hong Kong. Premium cabin demand was hit particularly hard.

As the winter season of lower demand approaches, Cathay Pacific has announced a number of cutbacks or service reductions from Hong Kong:

  • Dublin – suspendeded effective November 07 – will only operate during summer in 2020
  • Medan (Indonesia) – suspended
  • Frankfurt – daytime flight suspended
  • Paris – daytime flight suspended
  • Vancouver – 16 to 13 weekly flights effective October 29
  • Washington IAD – 5 to 4 weekly flights effective October 29
  • New York JFK – 21 to 18 weekly flights effective October 29

Cathay’s Fifth Freedom route between New York and Vancouver will also be cut on March 29, 2020.

Look for upcoming cuts–perhaps severe–to Mainland routes.

With an ongoing tiff between protestors in Hong Kong and Mainland China hurting demand, capacity to the Mainland fell 9.3% in August but demand fell by 28.1% versus one year ago. Tourism groups from the Mainland to Hong Kong dropped 63% in August compared to a year ago and Mainland tour groups are already down 90% this month versus September 2018.

Augustus Tang, the new Cathay Pacific CEO, blamed the drop in demand on protestors in Hong Kong and the ongoing U.S. – China trade war. In a memo to staff obtained by Danny Lee of the South China Morning Post, Tang announced new austerity measures, including:

  • Hiring freeze on non-flying staff
  • Delay in non-crtical spending
  • Critical evaluation of existing spending, including on personnel
  • Push for more productivity

CONCLUSION

With no end in sight to the protests, Cathay Pacific is bracing itself for a winter of despair. While the cuts are arguably modest, these are only the first round. Look for deep cuts to Mainland China service in the weeks ahead.

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About Author

Matthew Klint

Matthew is an avid traveler who calls Los Angeles home. Each year he travels more than 200,000 miles by air and has visited more than 135 countries. Working both in the aviation industry and as a travel consultant, Matthew has been featured in major media outlets around the world and uses his Live and Let's Fly blog to share the latest news in the airline industry, commentary on frequent flyer programs, and detailed reports of his worldwide travel.

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3 Comments

  1. Dick Bupkiss Reply
    September 12, 2019 at 1:09 pm

    All the freeloaders riding those mistake fares can’t be helping Cathay’s bottom line much either.

    • ALLAN Reply
      September 12, 2019 at 9:00 pm

      Having flown Cathay recently and flying again next March from Toronto to Hong Kong
      and on to Bali, ‘freeloaders’ or others have the same opportunity to Benefit from booking direct on – line as opposed to through agencies. Cathay like Singapore provide
      and ensure seating as booked and, service is quality. Despite current conditions and political climate in Hong Kong, we look forward to spending time in Hong Kong to break our return flight back to Toronto

  2. Josh Reply
    September 12, 2019 at 10:52 pm

    The “freeloaders” are taking seats that might well have gone unsold. Even more so now. So the $1500 they are getting from me is $1500 more than they’d get for an unsold seat.

    Other than that – for an airline struggling so badly, their prices have not budged in months.

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