Cathay Pacific 2010 Annual Report Download - page 19

Cathay Pacific Airways Limited Annual Report 2010
17
Review of Operations PASSENGER SERVICES
Home market – Hong Kong and Pearl
River Delta
Demand on routes originating in Hong Kong was robust in
all classes of travel, reflecting recovery from the financial
crisis and the strength of Hong Kong’s economy.
Yields increased significantly in 2010, particularly in the
premium classes.
Demand on routes to Europe and North America was
particularly strong. All long-haul routes performed well in
all classes.
Demand in economy class on routes to regional
destinations was robust, and particularly so during
holiday peaks.
For much of the year, demand for premium travel on
regional routes remained below pre-financial crisis levels
as companies were slow to relax corporate travel
policies encouraging travel in economy class. However,
corporate sales still increased from 2009.
The holding of the World Expo in Shanghai in 2010
was reflected in a sharp increase in the numbers of
passengers flying to Shanghai.
Demand on Dragonair’s route to Guangzhou was
particularly strong during the April and October
Canton Fairs.
Demand from the Pearl River Delta region continued to
grow in 2010, assisted by 2009’s introduction of the
Guangzhou route and better flight connections from
various cities to Hong Kong.
India, Middle East, Pakistan and
Sri Lanka
The Colombo market improved following the financial
crisis, though business is still hampered by the difficulty
of obtaining visas for travel to and through Hong Kong.
This difficulty also affects traffic from Dhaka, Kathmandu
and Karachi. We linked the Dhaka and Kathmandu
routes in order to improve efficiency.
Our India routes performed satisfactorily, although there
was strong competition from Indian carriers on the
Mumbai and Delhi routes. Demand on the Chennai route
was strong. We increased the number of Dragonair
flights to Bengaluru from four to seven per week.
In the Middle East, the financial crisis in the United
Arab Emirates affected our Dubai route, as did
aggressive local competition. Demand on the Jeddah
service strengthened.
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Southeast Asia
Demand within this region was generally strong. We
restored services to Singapore (back to seven flights a
day), and added flights to Jakarta, Surabaya, Kota
Kinabalu, Phuket and Hanoi.
Traffic to and from Singapore was high throughout the
year, despite strong competition on the route. The
Indonesia routes performed well, particularly over the
Lebaran holiday. We increased capacity to Denpasar
during the summer peak, although traffic on the route
has been affected by an increased number of direct
flights from Europe.
From late March 2011 we will strengthen services to
Indonesia, making Jakarta a triple-daily service and
adding one more flight a week to Surabaya to make it a
daily service.
The Malaysian routes performed satisfactorily, though
they were subject to strong competition. The Penang
service is to become a direct daily flight from late
March 2011.
Demand for flights to Bangkok was severely affected
by the anti-government protests, although there was
some recovery in leisure travel demand later in the
year. Demand for flights originating in Bangkok
remained reasonable.
The Philippines routes did not perform well. Demand
was weak and was particularly affected by the hostage
incident in August.
Southwest Pacific and South Africa
Demand and yield on the Southwest Pacific routes
returned to pre-downturn levels, assisted by an
increase in premium traffic. We restored some flights
to Sydney and added flights on the Brisbane/Cairns and
Perth routes.
Sales of tickets from Hong Kong to Southwest Pacific
destinations were strong. Connecting traffic from
Mainland China helped to keep load factors high.
Capacity on the Auckland was reduced, mainly in the
last four months of the year. This affected the
performance of the route.
The South Africa route performed strongly in the first
half of the year. Capacity was increased to cater for
travellers to the World Cup in June. Demand softened
towards the end of the year.
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