Passenger traffic in April at Hong Kong-based airline Cathay Pacific and its subsidiary Cathay Dragon fell from a month and year earlier, reflecting 97pc capacity reductions amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
The airlines served just 14 destinations in April and carried 13,729 passengers, 95.6pc less than March and 99.6pc below April 2019. Most passenger traffic comprised of inbound travellers from North America and the UK. The airlines carried 4.34mn passengers during January-April, 64.4pc less than the year-earlier period.
The airlines carried 84,634t of cargo and mail in April, 29pc less than in March, because of worldwide lockdown measures impeding certain cargo movements. But the airlines continued to carry medical supplies between mainland China and Hong Kong. April's volumes were also 48.3pc less than a year earlier. The airlines handled 474,587t of cargo and mail during January-April, 26.6pc less than the year-earlier period.
Industry groups and analysts are now predicting a much more prolonged recovery for the global aviation industry, with international travel demand expected to return to pre-Covid-19 levels only in a few years as border restrictions are gradually eased, said the airline group's chief customer and commercial officer Ronald Lam.
The group's airlines do not have the benefit of a domestic passenger network as a buffer, he said. Although the carriers to slightly increase passenger flight capacity from 3pc in May to 5pc in June, these are still subject to a potential relaxation in government health measures. Average daily passenger numbers are expected to remain at around 500 in May.
Hong Kong imported 1.446mn kilolitres (100,000 b/d) of aviation gasoline and kerosine during January-March, 30.44pc less than the year earlier period, according to latest data from its Census and Statistics Department. April data are yet to be released.
