'CX to reach pre-Covid flight capacity by 2025 Q1'
Cathay Pacific on Sunday said it is on track to reach 100 percent of its pre-pandemic passenger flights by the first quarter of 2025, having reached 80 percent of capacity within the second quarter of this year. The SAR's flagship airline, which suffered heavy losses and layoffs during the pandemic, had aimed to reach 100 percent capacity by the end of 2024, but in March moved the target back three months. Cathay reported its first annual profit in four years in March, however executives said they expect yields to normalise this year as the post-pandemic global imbalance between supply of flights and travel demand that drove up ticket prices and airline yields diminishes as airlines add capacity. "Indeed we're seeing that this year ... the yield has been normalising gradually coming down from last year. In particular, the supply and demand balancing is going quicker on the regional, the short haul routes,"  Cathay CEO Ronald Lam told reporters during an airline conference in Dubai. The carrier also restored capacity more slowly after the pandemic than its closest rival, Singapore Airlines, because it faced tighter quarantine rules for longer, and needed to hire more staff to bring back services. Lam said Cathay's plan to expand its workforce by around 20 percent, or 5,000 people, this year was also on track. (Reuters)