Cathay Pacific expects to operate about 30% pre-pandemic passenger capacity by the fourth quarter of the year, as it notes the “small signs of improvement” in its June traffic results. The embattled carrier, which recently had forecast a slimmer half-yearly loss, saw passenger traffic for the month pick up, especially from Mainland China, North America and Europe, helped by easing of transit restrictions in the city. It carried around 40,600 passengers in June, a 50% increase year on year, and more than 66% higher than in May. Compared to pre-pandemic 2019, however, it was nearly 99% lower. Cathay’s chief customer and commercial officer Ronald Lam says the carrier flew an average of 1,355 passengers a day in June. On 25 June, Cathay carried more than 2,000 passengers, which Lam points out is “the most of any day so far in 2021”. RPKs for the month grew 61% year on year, while capacity doubled. Compared to the same month in 2019, traffic plunged 98%, while capacity was down 92%. The carrier will “cautiously” add capacity to its network, as demand slowly picks up from some of its key markets. “Student traffic demand to the US in particular is looking strong in the second half of August, and we are operating more frequencies on these routes to cater for it,” says Lam. <br/>
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Cathay Pacific expects to take delivery of two more Airbus A321neos by the end of the year, as it gears up for the type’s maiden service in August to Shanghai Pudong. Taken together with the four existing examples it has now, Cathay’s A321neo fleet by the end of the year will be six jets. The Oneworld carrier also expects all 16 A321neos on order to be delivered by end-2023, about two years earlier than forecast. Cathay also disclosed other destinations that it will deploy the type on in August, including to Guangzhou, Hangzhou and Nanjing in Mainland China, as well as to Kaohsiung and Taipei in Taiwan. The A321neos were originally meant to operate with now-shuttered regional unit Cathay Dragon. Cathay placed an order for 32 examples in 2017, meant to replace Cathay Dragon’s fleet of A320s and A321ceos. In late-2019, Cathay rejigged its A321neo order, shifting half of the orderbook to low-cost arm HK Express instead. Then in 2020, as the coronavirus pandemic impacted travel demand — and Cathay’s financial situation — the carrier announced it was deferring its orders for up to two years till end-2025. Cathay would later shut the Cathay Dragon brand, as part of restructuring measures to stay afloat amid the pandemic, and absorb the latter’s A321neo order book. <br/>