HONG KONG — Hong Kong's flag carrier Cathay Pacific announced that due to the ongoing global epidemic, travel restrictions, and quarantine measures in Hong Kong and many markets, it has continued to slash capacity.


The company disclosed that it carried only 31,253 passengers last month, down 98.9% from February 2019. Revenue passenger kilometers were still down 99% compared to February 2019.
In the first two months of 2022, although the number of passengers carried increased by 8.6% compared with the same period last year, the capacity fell by 72.8%, and the revenue passenger kilometers also decreased by 12.5%. Cathay Pacific carried 65,126 tonnes of cargo last month, down 20.9% from a year earlier and down 50.4% from February 2019. Cargo revenue tonne-kilometers fell by 53.3% year-on-year during this month and decreased by 67.9% compared to February 2019.

Capacity measured in available cargo tonne-kilometers decreased by 53.8% year-on-year and 75.8% compared to February 2019. In the first two months of 2022, cargo volume fell by 27.1% year-on-year, capacity fell by 59.1%, and cargo revenue tonne-kilometers fell by 59.6%.
The spokesperson for Cathay Pacific said that the operating environment is still severe, and the travel and operational restrictions implemented in Hong Kong continue to affect its passenger capacity. The passenger capacity in February was less than 2% compared with the pre-epidemic level, which was further reduced by about 30% compared to the capacity in January.

As the authorities tightened cross-border land freight arrangements between mainland China and Hong Kong, coupled with the escalating epidemic in Hong Kong, demand in the local market has decreased. In addition, the recovery in demand from Asia to long-haul destinations after the Lunar New Year was slower than market expectations.