Cathay Pacific expects passenger numbers to stay below 1,000 a day this month compared with the usual 100,000 as it operates at just 3% of normal capacity. The airline said it is impossible to predict when demand will improve as the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic is intensifying. One day this week, Cathay and Cathay Dragon carried only 302 passengers. The company’s dire outlook came as it released figures for March that showed “drastic decreases” in passengers. The airline and Cathay Dragon carried a total of 311,128 passengers last month, down 90% from March 2019. Revenue passenger kilometers tumbled 84.3% and passenger load factor dropped to 49.3%. For the quarter, passengers were down 52% from a year earlier. <br/>
oneworld
Finnair is the latest airline to temporarily transform passenger cabins into freight carriages, disclosing plans to fill 2 of its Airbus A350s with cargo to boost capacity between Europe and Asia. Until now, Finnair has only transported freight in the belly of its passenger A350s. However, the airline has unveiled plans to convert the cabins of 2 of its A350s for cargo use. The move will help boost capacity for transporting emergency medical supplies, including coronavirus samples, between Finland, Estonia and points in Asia, says the carrier. The airline this week plans to operate more than 10 return A350 cargo flights to Osaka and Tokyo Narita in Japan, Seoul in South Korea, and Guangzhou and Shanghai in China. <br/>