This does probably not come as a surprise to anyone, but Cathay Pacific is loosing money fast. With a reported drop in passenger number of more than 98.5% compared to a year ago, it is basically only the cargo division that is bringing some cash in for the company.
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Cathay Pacific has projected that they have lost around 10 billion Hong Kong Dollars in the first 6 months of this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
So far Cathay has not laid off any pilots, and they have historically never done so before either, but as pilot costs is a big expense for them, they are now offering some of their senior pilots aged 50 and above early retirement.
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As Cathay is starting to slowly resume flights, I thought it would be a good idea to also post an update on travel restrictions around the world for those lucky enough to be able to travel.
As restrictions change all the time, it is really hard to know what is the real, latest updates, but I would recommend to go to Cathays Website and see what they have updated for all their destinations.
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At the end of March 2020 Cathay announced they were reducing their passenger flight schedule by 96% over the next couple of months. This has been extended, but now they are slowly getting ready to resume flights again.
They have published the following tables for their upcoming schedule the next month or so:
Keep on reading!The traffic statistics for Hong Kong International Airport May 2020 has been released, and I am sure nobody is surprised to hear that again the numbers are down 99.4% compared to May 2019, just like the numbers for April.
It was announced a couple of days ago that starting June 1st, Hong Kong Airport will again open up for transit passengers. While the restrictions were not initially published, we now know what some of those will be.
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Boarding was already starting when I arrived at the gate, and as the flight was no more than 30% full there was no queue for boarding, so I was able to proceed directly to my seat.
When I did the online check-in one day before departure, I was more interested in finding an empty part of the cabin, so I assigned myself seat 72A if I remember correctly, almost in the rear of the plane. From experience I like the seats in this area of the airplane, the fuselage is starting to narrow here, and the seat configuration goes from 2-4-2 to 2-3-2, so there is more space between the seats, and as the fuselage is not straight here, the seats are places a bit further from the windows, so the A-seats have more space than in the rest of the plane.
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Cathay has just release the following press statement on their website:
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Hong Kong Express, Hong Kongs low cost operator who was purchased last year by Cathay Pacific is the first Hong Kong based airline to halt operations amid the COVID19 outbreak.
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For once I was travelling with check-in baggage as I actually had a 6 days holiday coming up, and I was planning to stock up on some new clothes in Thailand as shopping there is really great.
I was working nightshift the night before my flight, so I decided to take advantage of Cathays 24-hour in advance check-in, and brought my suitcase with me to the airport before start of the shift. Check-in was done in 2 minutes, and very easy and efficient.
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