Cathay Pacific said on Friday it is ramping up its cargo capacity by mounting charter services and operating certain suspended passenger services purely for airfreight to meet cargo customer demand.

This comes as the airline announced it is reducing passenger capacity by 96% in April and May due to "severe drop in demand" amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and multiple government travel restrictions that form part of the global health response plan.

“As previously announced, Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon intend to operate a bare skeleton passenger flight schedule in April and May, though our freighter capacity remains intact,” the Hong Kong-based airline said.

“While our freighter network remains intact, we are ramping up our cargo capacity by mounting charter services and operating certain suspended passenger services purely for airfreight to meet cargo customer demand,” said Ronald Lam, Cathay Pacific chief customer and commercial officer.

“We need to take difficult but decisive measures as the scale of the challenge facing the global aviation industry is unprecedented,” he added, noting as Hong Kong’s home airlines, it is vital that the airline continues to provide important passenger and cargo connections to and from the Hong Kong hub, considered as the world’s busiest cargo airport.

Cathay Pacific said it will operate three flights per week to 12 destinations: London (Heathrow), Los Angeles, Vancouver, Tokyo (Narita), Taipei, New Delhi, Bangkok, Jakarta, Manila, Ho Chi Minh City, Singapore and Sydney.

Cathay Dragon, meanwhile, will operate three flights per week to 3 destinations: Beijing, Shanghai (Pudong), and Kuala Lumpur.

“Cathay Pacific is a resilient company. While we shall have much more to deal with given the challenges ahead, we remain confident in the long-term future of the company, the Hong Kong hub and our ability to thrive in the Asia Pacific,” it said.