Hong Kong flag carrier Cathay Pacific sticking to rebuilding plan with new routes coming only after return to full capacity, says chairman
- Cathay chairman Patrick Healy says carrier has no plans yet to expand its network or to bring forward its target
- He says Cathay will only start looking at other locations such as in the Middle East once it reaches full capacity
Cathay chairman Patrick Healy told the Post on Monday that the carrier had no plans yet to expand its network or bring forward its target despite now reaching 80 per cent of the pre-pandemic capacity.
“At the moment we are still building back the network post-pandemic. We’re at 80 per cent of pre-pandemic capacity at the moment,” he said in Dubai on the sidelines of the annual general meeting of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), an airline trade body.
Healy said that by the time the carrier reached full capacity by early next year, the number of destinations would be restored from the present 80 to 90, and only then would it start looking at other locations such as in the Middle East.
“So the focus until now really has been building back the frequency and the destination network that we had pre-Covid,” he said.
“Once we’ve achieved that, then clearly we’re looking for expansion opportunities. There’s a lot of interest in the Middle East these days out of Hong Kong for obvious reasons. But clearly those opportunities we’re going to be very aware of.”