Cathay Pacific has released its traffic figures for February that continued to reflect the airline's substantial capacity reductions in response to significantly reduced demand as well as travel restrictions and quarantine requirements in place in Hong Kong and other markets amid the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic.

The Hong Kong-based carrier reported that it carried 65,126 tonnes of cargo last month, a decrease of 20.9% compared to February 2021, and a 50.4% decrease compared with the same period in 2019.

"We continue to operate a reduced long-haul cargo schedule in light of ongoing crew quarantine measures and in February we operated around 25% of our pre-Covid-19 cargo flight capacity," the airline said, adding that tightened requirements for cross-border trucking between the Chinese Mainland and Hong Kong, as well as the surge in Covid-19 cases in Hong Kong, reduced demand from our home market."

"Furthermore, the anticipated market recovery from Asia to long-haul destinations was slower than expected post-Chinese New Year," Cathay said.

For February, the carrier said the month's cargo revenue tonne-kilometers (RFTKs) also decreased 53.3% year-on-year and were down 67.9% compared to February 2019 as the cargo load factor increased by 0.9 percentage points to 80.5%.

Meanwhile, capacity, measured in available cargo tonne kilometers (AFTKs), was down by 53.8% year-on-year and was down by 75.8% versus the pre-pandemic level seen in February 2019.

Focus on regional freighters

Cathay said in order to ease the impact of these disruptions in its operations, the carrier is ramping up its focus on regional services — particularly as long-haul remains constrained.

"In order to mitigate these headwinds, our teams focused on regional routes and we saw encouraging demand on these services. Of particular note was the demand for Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) shipments, which was strong throughout the month and continues to be so," Cathay said, adding that as of the end of February, Cathay has delivered over 13 million RAT kits to Hong Kong.

In the first two months of 2022, Cathay said its tonnage decreased by 27.1% against a 59.1% drop in capacity and a 59.6% decrease in RFTKs, as compared to the same period for 2021.

Despite this, Cathay announced that it has resumed some of its long-haul services in North America although it has yet to say when it plans to restart operations to Europe.

"Regarding cargo, we are re-deploying freighters to North Asia and the Indian sub-continent to maximize opportunities within the region while our ability to operate long-haul services remains constrained," Cathay said.

"Nevertheless, we are continually looking to increase our long-haul cargo flight capacity where possible, and we have resumed freighter services into Atlanta, Houston, and Miami in the US."

The carrier noted that for March, Hong Kong exports will also continue to be impacted by the financial hub's tight Covid-19 measures.

Cathay already earlier noted an "extremely challenging start to 2022" following the emergence of the Omicron variant, and Hong Kong's move to tighten the quarantine requirements for Hong Kong-based aircrew – notably those operating cargo flights.

Cathay said in its financial report that it expects to operate around 2% of pre-Covid-19 passenger flight capacity, as its cargo flight capacity is likely to remain less than one-third of pre-COVID-19 levels while current restrictions in the city remain in place.

"Our total Hong Kong export volumes will likely remain under pressure throughout the month. Despite this, overall demand from other markets is strengthening and we will look to capture as much of this opportunity as possible," Cathay Pacific added.