Few on board in March for Cathay, Cathay Dragon flights

Passenger numbers on Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon combined tumbled sharply in March in the wake of entry and transit restrictions in Hong Kong, and drastic reductions in capacity.

The two airlines flew 311,128 passengers, a decline of 90 percent from the year before.

On each of the last two days of March, Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon flew fewer than 1,000 passengers.

Revenue passenger kilometers, or the number of passengers flown, multiplied by distance, also fell 84.3 percent year-on-year, the airline said.

The passenger load factor dropped by 34.6 percentage points to 49.3 percent.

Capacity, measured in available seat kilometres, was cut by 73.2 percent.

Cargo volumes also fell sharply. The two airlines carried 119,277 tons of cargo and mail last month, a drop of 35.6 percent-on-year.

This month and in May, the airlines will operate a bare skeleton passenger flight schedule comprising 3 percent of capacity.