Cathay Pacific flew an average of just 981 passengers a day in January, the first time the number dropped below 1,000 since June, and its load factor was the lowest on record at just 13.3%. It flew a total of 30,410 passengers in January, a 99% slump from a year earlier. Revenue passenger kilometers fell 98.7%, the carrier said. “Many of the challenges of 2020 continued into January while a number of new ones have also emerged, most notably new Covid-19 strains and more severe lockdowns in some of our key markets,” Chief Customer and Commercial Officer Ronald Lam said. “Aside from a few pockets of intra-Asia demand, overall demand remained very weak.” Cathay’s cargo business has been something of a crutch during the crisis, but even that slowed in the first half of last month. It picked up again ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday, led by shipments of perishables, live seafood and parts for automobiles and electronics. “We are seeing healthy cargo demand in February up until the Chinese New Year holiday before slowing down in the latter half of the month,” Lam said. January passenger capacity was down about 6% from December, largely due to Hong Kong banning flights from the UK, Lam said. The airline resumed passenger services from London in mid-January, but only flew five in total over the rest of the month.<br/>
oneworld
Qantas will build a new flight training centre at Brisbane airport by the end of the year and expand existing facilities at Melbourne, as part of a wider relocation of training assets. The carrier says that construction on the Brisbane flight training centre is expected to commence in March, and will be supported by the Queensland state government. <br/>It will deploy its Boeing 787, 767 and 737, as well as Dash 8 Q400 flight simulators to the Brisbane facility. At Melbourne, it will add four simulators — including 787 and Airbus A330 — and training equipment. The relocation of its flight simulators comes as its existing training centre in Mascot in Sydney has to be moved to accommodate a major roads project. “This process has subsequently formed part of the airline’s broader review of its property footprint, aimed at reducing its overall costs as it seeks to recover from the Covid-19 crisis,” says Qantas. <br/>