Cathay drops seven international routes including London Gatwick
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An internal memo seen by the South China Morning Post confirms that Cathay Pacific will permanently axe seven long-haul routes, amongst them London Gatwick and Dublin.
Cathay expects to operate less than 25% of its 2019 capacity in the first half of 2021 and no more than 50% across the entire year.
Cathay’s situation is even more dire due to a difficult 2019. Whilst other airlines saw record traffic, Cathay Pacific was already dealing with dampened demand due to the ongoing Hong Kong democracy protests. Inbound international traffic had already collapsed by 46% this time last year compared to 2018.
The following routes will be permanently dropped:
- Gatwick
- Brussels
- Dublin
- Maldives
- Newark
- Seattle
- Washington DC
The loss of the Maldives removes an option for a two-centre Avios-funded holiday, whilst the loss of Dublin and Brussels removes two low-tax options for Avios flights to Hong Kong.
According to the memo, all the axed routes were losing money.
PS. If you collect Cathay Pacific Asia Miles, our guide on how to earn them from UK credit cards is here.
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