will CX reduce number of SYD flights?
 

on my flight to HK yesterday, only 79 passengers on a A330

wonder if CX will go back to 3 flights a day

Banjo

understand HKG-SYD leg was full with Chinese students on way back to start the new uni year

ps who was the spotter in red on a ladder at Sheps Mound?

QF have already scaled back some HKG capacity (from MEL).

I reckong CX will drop one of the flights. they have had lowish loads for a few months (asper the international stats)

CX's loads are quite low in and out of MEL also, but so is every other carrier.

After talking to a few friends who are working for Cathay or Dragonair in Hong Kong, I believe it's 90% likely that some Australian services will be cut and Sydney is definitely high on the list.

There are now several problems with Cathay's SYD-HKG services:

(1) Slowing demand from both HKG-to-SYD (v.v.) as well as through-flight (connecting in HKG) markets, and the market demand for Cathay's through-services is the most worrying largely due to increased competitions from rivals (a friend at CX said Virgin Atlantic actually got quite a bit of ex-CX markets for through services to UK as well as other regions [in conjunction with partner airlines]).

(2) Disappointing market for premium services to Australia, many companies in Hong Kong have simply suspended most of their employees' air travel on business trips, especially those in the banking sector (large corp. clients such as HSBC, NCB, BOC [HK], ICBC [Asia] etc.). So, the premium classes are not there to support yields anymore.

(3) Cargo demand is dropping faster than most anticipated! CX has tried a number of strategies to push for cargo sales both at home and in other countries (via designated GSAs), but its cargo traffic is still recording 20-30% reduction despite the efforts.

(4) Services to Mainland China via HKG is facing increased pressures from non-stop carriers such as Air China, China Eastern and long-time rivals such as Singapore Airlines. A mate @ Dragonair said their Mainland flights are not filling up and forward bookings for flights to other countries with CX connections in HKG are decreasing much faster than the point-to-point non-stop Mainland-HKG services. Several TAs based in Sydney and Melbourne have told me that a lot of clients are now opting for non-stop services on Air China and China Eastern given their extremely competitive sales fares (e.g. A$850 for 3-month SYD-PVG, SYD-PEK round-trip tkt) that cannot be matched by carriers such as CX, SQ, MH etc.

Regards.

see today's CX161 HKG-SYD has been cancelled

numbers must not yet be up

Banjo

last night flight CX138 SD-HKG 100% full, including passengers in crew rest seats

Banjo

was upgraded to J, can't complain

CX numbers down - here's some reasons
 

Unfortunately I can only travel during school holiday periods. My trip to Hong Kong last year was in a very full A330 and was the most uncomfortable trip I have ever had. Flight attendants virtually absent, the personal reading light is obscured by the head rest of the person who fully reclined for the entire flight so I couldn't read or do puzzles, and no personal air nozzle to get some air circulation - give me a Virgin E-190 any day. We left Melbourne around 2pm, had a food service and by 5:30 they had insisted the blinds be drawn and the cabin lighting doused as if it was night time. Pointless having a window seat as you weren't allowed to look out the window. It felt like granny had sent me to my room. Sorry CX, my body clock didn't want a nap at 6pm. We were then "woken up" for a food service about an hour before landing and allowed to open the shades. The in-flight movies also ceased for about 2 hours during our enforced siesta. I'll be looking for another airline next time.

I tried to book myself on CX111 for a day in June. As soon as I end the booking, it automatically rebooked me to CX161 with a message of something like Rebook due Flight Cancelled. So I assume CX has already cancelled some of their SYD services despite they are still selling 4 flights for every single day.

daylight flight from HKG to SYD yesterday again 100% full

Cathay Pacific will be reducing Hong Kong - Sydney from 4 to 3 Daily on selected dates in May 09. Cancelled flight is CX161/162. The following cancelled dates are Hong Kong departure.

03MAY09 - 21MAY09
23MAY09 - 28MAY09
30MAY09 - 31MAY09