HONG KONG's Cathay Pacific Airways posted a 31.8 per cent year-on-year decrease in air cargo volume to 81,837 tons after suffering a 51.5 per cent drop from previous January in 2019.
Cargo capacity also fell 69 per cent from December.
As part of the government's effort to eradicate Covid, health authorities increased the quarantine period from three to seven days for locally domiciled crews returning from international trips.
This reduced the number of available pilots, forcing Cathay Pacific to suspend a huge amount of long-haul cargo operations through March and causing substantial disruption for cargo customers.
The airline was only able to mount limited freighter flights to the Americas, while the shipment of goods to Europe, the Middle East and Southwest Pacific was provided by passenger aircraft carrying only cargo. The company has 20 Boeing 747 cargo jets in its fleet.
The airline carried more than 1.4 million tons of cargo last year, about the same as in 2020 but a third less than in 2019. Last year, it operated almost 8,000 cargo-only passenger flights, many with its six Boeing 777 jets reconfigured to accommodate cargo in the passenger cabin. Besides traditional commodities, it carried more than 120 million doses of vaccines worldwide.
SeaNews Turkey
Cargo capacity also fell 69 per cent from December.
As part of the government's effort to eradicate Covid, health authorities increased the quarantine period from three to seven days for locally domiciled crews returning from international trips.
This reduced the number of available pilots, forcing Cathay Pacific to suspend a huge amount of long-haul cargo operations through March and causing substantial disruption for cargo customers.
The airline was only able to mount limited freighter flights to the Americas, while the shipment of goods to Europe, the Middle East and Southwest Pacific was provided by passenger aircraft carrying only cargo. The company has 20 Boeing 747 cargo jets in its fleet.
The airline carried more than 1.4 million tons of cargo last year, about the same as in 2020 but a third less than in 2019. Last year, it operated almost 8,000 cargo-only passenger flights, many with its six Boeing 777 jets reconfigured to accommodate cargo in the passenger cabin. Besides traditional commodities, it carried more than 120 million doses of vaccines worldwide.
SeaNews Turkey
