The Cathay Pacific Group has released a combined Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon traffic figures for May 2020, which reflects the airlines’ substantial 97 percent capacity reductions in response to the significantly reduced demand and travel restrictions.
Quarantine requirements in Hong Kong as well in other markets amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has also contributed to the reductions.
Both airlines carried a total of 18,473 passengers last month, a decrease of 99.4 percent compared to May 2019. The month’s revenue passenger kilometres (RPKs) fell 99.1 percent year-on-year.
Passenger load factor had plummeted by 53.3 percentage points to 29.6 percent while capacity, decreased by 97.5 percent.
In the first five months of 2020, the number of passengers carried dropped by 71.2 percent against a 59.5 percent decrease in capacity and a 67 percent decrease RPKs, as compared to the same period for 2019.
“The impact the global Covid-19 pandemic is having on the Cathay Pacific Group, and the wider aviation industry as a whole, is phenomenal. Though there have been some small positive signs, such as the ban on transit traffic through Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) beginning to ease, the future remains very uncertain,” said Cathay Pacific Group chief customer and commercial officer, Ronald Lam.
Given the significant drop in passengers carried, the Group continues to anticipate a substantial loss in the first half of 2020.
Earlier this week, Cathay Pacific had announced a HK$39 billion recapitalisation plan designed to provide the company with the necessary funds to survive the current downturn
