Recently announced flight cancellations at Cathay Pacific will have a "limited impact" on the carrier's air cargo operations.

Tom Owen, director cargo at Cathay Cargo, said the Hong Kong flag carrier continues to operate its freighters at full capacity and affected bellyhold space from the reduced passenger flights is "relatively small."

"There will be limited impact on our air cargo capacity, given we continue to operate our 20 freighters at full capacity and with the relatively small number of passenger belly cancellations compared to the total belly services offered, mostly have protection options available for cargo within 24 hours," Owen told Asia Cargo News when asked on the impact of the cancellations on the carrier's cargo operations.

Cathay Pacific said in an earlier statement that it plans to cut a dozen flights per day on average for the rest of January through February, particularly on routes with multiple daily flights where possible, to ensure normal operations and avoid last-minute cancellations ahead of the Chinese New Year (CNY) travel rush. 

On Monday, Cathay Pacific cancelled over 20 flights — which includes 10 outbound flights, impacting flights to Bangkok, Beijing, Kaohsiung, Kuala Lumpur, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Taipei and Vancouver in Canada.

The Hong Kong Airport Authority website said the carrier was also set to further cancel at least 12 flights set to depart from Hong Kong and 10 flights scheduled to land in the city on Tuesday.

In terms of cargo, Owen noted that the short-term flight cancellations on Cathay's passenger services will not translate into a "material capacity reduction" for the carrier's air cargo operations.

"Going forward, the focus is on organising our passenger belly capacity to ensure optimal cargo capacity is available in the lead-up to CNY peak periods," the director of cargo at Cathay, said.

"We are confident that these short-term cancellation measures on a few of our passenger services in order to protect the Chinese New Year passenger peak will not translate into a material capacity reduction for our cargo business," he added.

"We continue to work with our customers to provide the highest levels of service and operational excellence and have been communicating closely to ensure transparency in cargo operations," Owen further said.

Cathay already assured the public that it bumped the number of pilots on standby to avoid disruption in the coming weeks.

The carrier has also announced the formation of a team to investigate, after Hong Kong's chief executive, John Lee, called on Cathay to immediately rebuild its capacity.