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| Saturday, 30 August 2003 |
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Cathay Pacific to add more flights to its schedule By Shirajiv Sirimane in Hong Kong Cathay Pacific Airways will add more flights to its schedule and will operate at around 90 percent of normal capacity hoping to reach full schedule soon. The Corporate Communications Manager (Public Relations) Cathay Pacific, Julie Lo said that SARS epidemic was the worst crisis faced by the airline but it has now recovered from the crisis situation. "We will add three additional flights to and from London by the end of this month," she said. "The majority of the flights being resumed are to and from destinations in North East Asia and Southeast Asia." The number of flights to Taipei each week will jump from 56 in July to 88 in August, Seoul flights will rise to 28 per week from the current 21, while all five Cathay Pacific destinations in Japan will have more flights in August. Flights are also being restored to some of the most popular destinations in Southeast Asia to match summer demand, with Bangkok, Manila and Jakarta all getting more flights each week," she said. "We recorded a strong recovery in passenger numbers from the previous month, although the total was still down more than 20 percent from the same month a year ago," she said. In July 2003, Cathay Pacific carried 874,228 passengers, up from 459,627 in June, but down 21.2 per cent from July last year. The passenger load factor, based on reduced capacity, increased 1.5 percentage points year-on-year to 83.6 percent. She further said that a total of 67,340 tonnes of freight was carried during the month, down 6.9 percent from an unusually busy period in July last year. The cargo load factor slipped 5.3 percent for similar reasons. "Yet July's total showed a steady increase on the 63,599 tonnes carried in June." She said. The airline also offers two superior lounges at the new airport. The Wing was Cathay Pacific's original lounge at the new Hong Kong International Airport. In November 2001 the airline opened its second premium lounge at Hong Kong International Airport named 'The Pier'. Located at the North West end of the terminal it creates more space and facilities for passengers, and added convenience for those departing from adjacent gates. In August 2002, The Wing was named 'The World's Best Airline Lounge'. The Skytrax survey attracted nearly 0.75 million votes from passengers all over the world. The Wing was also recently named first in a Forbes magazine list of "The World's Ten Best Airport Lounges". Cathay Pacific has also recently opened new lounges in Seoul, Bangkok, Taipei and Paris as part of a program to enhance ground facilities. In Sri Lanka, James Finlay is the GSA for Cathay Pacific. |
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