Cathay Pacific resumes flights to KL but cuts other international flights

Cathay Pacific Airways today announced further temporary cuts to its scheduled passenger services in a response to a plunge in passenger numbers resulting from the atypical pneumonia outbreak and the war in Iraq. This is the fourth round of cuts the airline has been forced to make since 31 March 2003 in response to a steep fall in bookings across its network.

In all, 23 destinations will be affected and 218 weekly services cut - or 45 percent of the airline's normal weekly schedule. The majority of service cuts are still on regional routes though services to long-haul destinations in Australia, Europe and North America have also been affected.

The cities to which services have been reduced are: Amsterdam, Bangkok, Denpasar, Frankfurt, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, London, Los Angeles, Manila, Melbourne, Nagoya, Osaka, Paris, Penang, Seoul, Singapore, Taipei, Tokyo, Vancouver, Rome, Sydney, Fukuoka and Sapporo.

Cathay Pacific Director Corporate Planning Augustus Tang said  "Unfortunately, demand has continued to drop, mainly due to the impact of the atypical pneumonia outbreak, and we have had to make further cutbacks to our services. We will continue to review the situation and make schedule adjustments as and when necessary. At the same time we will strive to maintain our network."

Cathay Pacific said it is to resume services to Malaysia following the Malaysian government's decision to rescind its recent announcement that prevented many Hong Kong citizens from entering the country. The airline  will operate one flight each day, CX721/0, to Kuala Lumpur effective from 24 April and the service will be timed to connect with services from Seoul, Osaka, and Tokyo. However, this flight will no longer continue to Penang due to continued low demand.

While the airline's passenger services have been pared back extensively, Cathay Pacific said it is still operating a full freighter schedule to and from the  Middle East, Europe, Asia, Australia and North America. The airline will also bring its B747-200F freighter back into service in May to boost cargo capacity. It is the final aircraft parked after the post- September 2001 downturn to be brought back into service.