Despite the dual shocks of the Iran conflict and soaring jet fuel costs, airlines are maintaining Hong Kong’s status as a transit hub. Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd's passenger numbers rose 25% in March from a year earlier, with its passenger load factor jumping almost 10 percentage points to 92% as travellers look for routes that bypass the Gulf region.
(April 21): Hong Kong’s flight capacity is set to increase around 10% in the second quarter, driven by additional seats on routes to China and South Korea, even as services to the Middle East decline.
Capacity in China and South Korea is set to rise 17%-30% year on year, Bloomberg Intelligence said in a note published Tuesday. Parts of Southeast Asia are also showing robust expansion, led by Vietnam and Malaysia, on demand for short-haul leisure travel, analysts Eric Zhu and George Ferguson wrote in the note. Long-haul routes, including to the US and Australia, are expected to post gains of 15%–16%.
