Aviation
CATHAY PACIFIC TO RESUME MORE FLIGHTS AS HONG KONG EASES RESTRICTIONS
April 26, 2022

Cathay Pacific will be adding more flights to its roster in the coming months after the Hong Kong government moved to ease restrictions in the city related to Covid-19.

 

The Hong Kong-based carrier via its official website welcomed the recent announcement by the Hong Kong Government regarding the gradual resumption of travel from May 1 and said that it is "actively resuming more flights".

 

Cathay said it will operate additional frequencies from London, Sydney and Manchester in June 2022 including daily service from London between Jun 8 and June 30.

 

Additional flights are expected to boost cargo capacity in the route with more belly space to move freight.

 

Cathay has been focusing on regional cargo flights as long-haul services were reduced due to the tough Covid-19 related restrictions in the major aviation hub.

 

When releasing the airline's traffic figures for March, Ronald Lam, chief customer, and commercial officer noted that "March was yet another very difficult month for our travel business."

 

Lam noted that passenger flight capacity remained extremely low at just under 2% of pre-Covid-19 levels.

 

"We relied heavily on ex-Hong Kong traffic throughout March as the bans on transit traffic at Hong Kong International Airport and on flights from nine countries remained in place during the month. We are very pleased that both restrictions were lifted on April 1."

 

"We welcome the lifting of the transit ban and the place-specific suspension mechanism, the rationalisation of the flight-specific suspension mechanism, as well as the reduction of the mandatory quarantine period for both travelers and aircrew alike in April. However, travel and operational restrictions remain stringent, and we have only been able to achieve a modest increase to our passenger flight capacity," he added.

 

Lam noted, however, that Cathay is seeing "improved demand" for flights.

 

From May 1, non-Hong Kong residents who have stayed in overseas places in the last 14 days will be allowed to enter Hong Kong and be subject to the same boarding, seven-day quarantine, and testing arrangements as Hong Kong residents.

 

The route-specific suspensions will remain, however, if five or more passengers, or 5% of passengers on the same flight, test positive on arrival.