Cathay Pacific secures most Cathay Dragon mainland rights

The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) has awarded Cathay Pacific (CX, Hong Kong Int’l) traffic rights to 15 routes between Hong Kong Int’l and mainland China previously served by the defunct subsidiary Cathay Dragon. The carrier was granted rights to operate from Hong Kong Int’l to each of: Fuzhou, Qingdao Liuting, Xiamen, Guangzhou, Chengdu Shuangliu, Zhengzhou, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Xi’an Xianyang, Wuhan, Wenzhou, Ningbo, Haikou, Sanya, and Chongqing. Prior to the liquidation of Cathay Dragon, Cathay Pacific itself held traffic rights to Shanghai Pudong and Beijing Capital. All traffic rights are valid for scheduled passenger and cargo rights, and are in force retroactively from December 27, 2020. Although carrier sources assessed the decision as generally positive for Cathay Pacific, CAAC refused some of its requests, including services to Jinan, Kunming Changshui, Changsha Huanghua, Guilin, and Nanning. Cathay Pacific also did not object to start-up Greater Bay Airlines’ request for a total of 104 route authorities filed in January. The Hong Kong-based carrier separately announced that proposed new quarantine requirements for all cabin crew and pilots following international flights would force it to trim its already minimal passenger capacity by a further 60%. The government of Hong Kong plans to implement a mandatory 14-day quarantine with a further seven-day surveillance period for all returning crew members starting on February 20. “The new measure will have a significant impact on our ability to service our passenger and cargo markets. The actual extent of such impact is yet to be confirmed and will be affected by a number of factors, including the success of mitigation measures we are able to adopt, such as agile manpower resources management,” the airline said. According to the South China Morning Post, the airline will suspend nearly all of its long-haul routes in response to the new requirements. As of February 20, Cathay Pacific will halt all services to Australia except for Sydney Kingsford Smith, as well as flights to Vancouver Int’l, San Francisco, CA, Frankfurt Int’l, Auckland Int’l, Seoul Incheon, and Kuala Lumpur Int’l.