Cathay Pacific cutting flights

[reader]

Excerpted from South China Morning Post

Cathay Pacific swings axe in response to sharp drop in passenger numbers, with flights to Dublin, New York and Paris all hit, and a freeze on spending

• Hong Kong carrier suspends long-haul services ahead of difficult winter
• Analyst expects short-haul flights to mainland China to be next as airline also implements hiring freeze

Cathay Pacific has responded to a sharp decline in passenger numbers in August by axing a number of short- and long-haul routes, cutting flights to other destinations, and ordering a hiring and spending freeze.

The airline revealed it was suspending flights on Thursday, a day after it announced

a 38 per cent drop in customers in August, and said it expected September to also be challenging.

With a difficult winter ahead, and the anti-government protests in Hong Kong showing no signs of coming to an end, the carrier has suspended flights to Dublin, Medan in Indonesia, and daytime flights to Paris and Frankfurt.

Cathay said the Dublin route would be suspended on November 7, and from next year would only operate during the summer months.

It has also cut the number of flights to New York, Washington and Vancouver, with an analyst predicting that short-haul routes to mainland China are likely to be next.

On Wednesday, Hong Kong’s biggest airline unveiled an 11.3 per cent slump in passengers compared to August last year, the busiest month for business, driven by a 38 per cent fall in people coming to the city as a result of the increasingly violent protests. The decline in passengers, as a percentage, was the single biggest fall in a decade.

Flights to Vancouver are being reduced from 17 to 14 a week from October 29 onwards, similarly Washington would lose one of its five weekly flights, and New York JFK is expected to fall from 21 to 18 services a week.

Some planned investment is expected to continue, including new first and business class upgrades, to help the airline maintain its competitive edge, while rolling out a new dining offering for economy travellers.

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https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/transport/article/3026842/cathay-pacific-swings-axe-response-sharp-drop-passenger

[fedssocr]

One of my flights for early next year was under the axe. The Tuesday flight to IAD was the one cut to here. They rebooked me on the flight the day before which kind of sucks since I will lose a day of my vacation. Since I'm originating in Colombo and they don't operate their CMB-HKG flight on Mondays it took me a bit of research to find a reasonable connection so I could just feed them the flights I want instead of accepting a connection via LAX and a redeye on an AA 737-800 which would have been no fun at all. Hopefully there aren't more cuts before then

[PeterRS]

4 hours ago, fedssocr said:

Hopefully there aren't more cuts before then

I would not bank on it. Tourism is down by huge numbers. Hotel prices have dropped quite dramatically and shops have enticing sales. But the protests show no sign of stopping because the idiot Chief Executive has been totally reactive and put offers on the table that are weeks and months too late. My guess is that CX is preparing for another round of cuts if the protests do not stop in the next week or so. The airline's balance sheet will already make for depressing reading. Future traffic projections even more so. Unless tourism figures start to increase - and we are already in the peak tourism season - my gut feel is more flights will get the chop. Sorry!

[reader]

Excerpted from South China Morning Post

Cathay Pacific to scrap many JFK flights

Cathay Pacific is poised to offer unpaid leave to staff as it struggles to cope with the financial damage caused by more than seven months of anti-government protests in Hong Kong and a boycott by mainland Chinese customers.

As it stands, the measure is voluntarily but some employees are being encouraged to take up to a month of no-pay leave, with Cathay Dragon pilots among the first, the South China Morning Post reported.

Flights to New York's John F. Kennedy (JFK) airport appear to be set for some of the biggest cuts, according to Cathay's booking schedules. From late October, it would fly only 11 times a week from Hong Kong. In the summer peak, it operates as many as 28.

In recent months, Cathay deferred delivery of new aircraft this year and planned to accelerate the retirement of older planes, froze hiring of non-essential staff, deferred non-critical spending and scrapped its annual 13th-month companywide bonus.

Tourist arrivals into Hong Kong for November, the most recent figures, fell by the most in 16 years — by 55.9%. There have been double-digit falls in visitor numbers since August.

To shore up its collapsing customer base with transit passengers Cathay has been cutting its fares. It has also filled up planes by giving away economy class travel to its employees for almost nothing.

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3045605/rise-chinese-only-prostitution-catches-philippines-surprise