Cathay Pacific’s website crashed after travelers tried to enter the airline’s website after Hong Kong announced the removal of the mandatory quarantine starting on Monday.
There is now a queuing system in place. You must wait anywhere from a few minutes to half an hour before being able to access any functionality.
You can access Cathay Pacific here.
Cathay Pacific released the following statement:
Cathay Pacific Media Statement (23 September 2022)
Friday, September 23, 2022 — Cathay Pacific welcomes the Hong Kong SAR Government’s latest measures to facilitate travel to Hong Kong, especially the decision to remove the hotel quarantine arrangement for passengers arriving in Hong Kong effective 26 September 2022. These adjustments will help boost sentiment for travel, thereby facilitating the gradual resumption of travel activities and strengthening of network connectivity to, from and through the Hong Kong aviation hub.
We intend to add more than 200 pairs of passenger flights in October to both regional and long-haul destinations. In view of Japan’s relaxation of travel restrictions for inbound visitors, Cathay Pacific will resume daily flights to Tokyo (Haneda) from 1 November and four-times-weekly flights to Sapporo from 1 December. We will also increase flight frequencies to Tokyo (Narita) to 43 pairs and Osaka to 50 pairs in October.
As Hong Kong’s home airline, we are fully committed to rebuilding the connectivity of the Hong Kong aviation hub. While we will continue to add back more flights as quickly as is feasible, it will take time to rebuild our capacity gradually.
Cathay’s August Traffic Record:
Cathay Pacific carried a total of 253,907 passengers last month, an increase of 87.6% compared to August 2021, but a 91.3% decrease compared to the pre-pandemic level in August 2019. The month’s revenue passenger kilometres (RPKs) increased 82.7% year-on-year, but were down 86.1% versus August 2019. Passenger load factor increased by 22.2 percentage points to 68.6%, while capacity, measured in available seat kilometres (ASKs), increased by 23.5% year-on-year, but decreased by 83.8% compared with August 2019 levels. In the first eight months of 2022, the number of passengers carried increased by 133.5% against a 1.6% increase in capacity and a 141.9% increase in RPKs, as compared to the same period for 2021.
Hong Kong’s Reopening Without Quarantine:
Hong Kong Scraps Quarantine On September 26, 2022 – Requires 3 Days Of Medical Surveillance
Conclusion
The removal of mandatory quarantine is a massive relief for Cathay Pacific, as locals can now return without a quarantine.
Is there any other airline in operation whose August traffic is down 91% compared to the same period in 2019?
I doubt there will be a huge rush of international visitors because you cannot enter most premises for the first four days until your Vaccine Pass turns from amber to blue, and five covid tests are required (one antigen + four PCR-RT) within a week.
