Dragonair reduces April 2003 capacity by 25%

Dragonair has said that as a result of the decline in air travel in the region following the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) it will temporarily reduce or suspend services to certain destinations.

"With the reduction in demand for travel in the region at this time, we are scaling back on some frequencies and services temporarily," said Andy Tung, Dragonair's General Manager, Marketing & Sales.

The changes for the month of April, effective 3 April 2003, amount to a 25% reduction in Dragonair's planned passenger capacity for the month.

Services to Beijing and Shanghai will be maintained at the winter schedule level of 42 flights a week and 56 flights a week respectively. Some flights on these routes will, however, be operated using smaller-capacity A321 aircraft to reflect the decline in demand. Taipei will have 21 flights a week, again with some flights using smaller aircraft.

Services to Changsha, Hangzhou, Kaohsiung, Kunming, Nanjing, Ningbo, Qingdao and Xiamen will all see reductions.

Services to Xian and Chongqing will be cancelled for April, except for one flight each on April 18 and April 23 respectively. Services to Sendai will also be cancelled, with the exception of flights on April 16, 20 and 30. Flights to Dalian, Hiroshima, Haikou, Sanya and Wuhan in April will not be operated.

There is no change in frequencies to Dhaka, Fuzhou, Kota Kinabalu, Phnom Penh and Phuket.

Mr. Tung said: "Dragonair serves mainland and secondary regional destinations, and these have seen a significant decline in demand as a result of concern over SARS. Leisure travel has been particularly hit, and business travel has also seen a significant decline. We obviously hope that the outbreak will be contained quickly and that demand among travellers returns soon. Once demand returns, we look forward to raising frequencies, and implementing our planned summer schedule in full."