Image: Reuters Berita 24 English - Cathay Pacific Airways, which has been pummelling by rigorous quarantine laws that have resulted in a 98...
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| Image: Reuters |
Berita 24 English - Cathay Pacific Airways, which has been pummelling by rigorous quarantine laws that have resulted in a 98 percent drop in passenger numbers, is planning to bring back additional planes once restrictions loosen, according to the airline's top executive.
On the sidelines of an airline industry event in Doha, Cathay Chief Executive Augustus Tang told Reuters, "We have around one-third of our passenger fleet still sitting in the desert, not being used." "We're creating plans for them to gradually get back ahead of schedule."
Rival Since Singapore's quarantine laws were relaxed, demand for Singapore Airlines has increased dramatically. In May, it was back to 61 percent of pre-COVID-19 capacity, with 78.2 percent of seats filled in its greatest month since the outbreak began.
In May, Cathay Pacific, on the other hand, only used 4% of their pre-COVID capacity and filled 60.5 percent of its seats.
Due to the requirement that crew members on passenger flights stay in a hotel for three days after flying to destinations outside of mainland China, there are few frequencies available to offer potential transit passengers.
Passengers flying to Hong Kong will also be subjected to a week of hotel quarantine upon arrival, which will curb demand.
Tang said it was good that Hong Kong was gradually reducing the quarantine period, which used to be as long as three weeks for passengers from the United States and the United Kingdom.
"It's going in the right direction, and the momentum is building, so we're quite optimistic that more and more of this will open up," he said.
Cathay Pacific currently has 45 passenger destinations operational, up from 30 at the start of the year, with plans to expand to 70 by the end of the year if demand rises, he said. Prior to the epidemic, the company operated 108 passenger destinations.
(The last paragraph of this item has been amended to reflect 45 passenger destinations rather than 45 passenger planes.)
