By beginning of 2024, Cathay Pacific expects to scale back to pre-pandemic flight capacity from Bangladesh

Cathay Pacific Airways Limited, more widely known as Cathay Pacific, is the flag carrier of Hong Kong, with its head office and main hub located in Hong Kong. 

As at 30 June 2023, Cathay Pacific together with its subsidiaries, HK Express and Air Hong Kong, had 225 aircraft, of which 25 were parked outside of Hong Kong. Their passenger and cargo airlines offered scheduled services to 74 destinations worldwide, including 17 destinations in the Chinese Mainland. Furthermore, the Group serves an additional 160 destinations through codeshare agreements. 

In an interview with The Business Standard, Ahmed Reza, country manager of Cathay Pacific for Bangladesh and Bhutan, discusses how the carrier's business is recovering after the pandemic, its plans to increase the number of flights between Dhaka and Hong Kong, and the potential it sees in the country's aviation industry.

How is Cathay Pacific doing globally? Following the pandemic-led depression in the aviation market, how did Cathay Pacific turn around its business?

We are representing Hong Kong as its home carrier; Hong Kong is our home and has been for more than 77 years. 

Our role as the city's home carrier is to be an enabler, connecting Hong Kong, the Greater Bay Area and the Chinese Mainland with the rest of the world.

Infograph: TBS

We are contributing to the rebuilding of connectivity at the Hong Kong international aviation hub by rebuilding our capacity as quickly as is feasible with more flights and more destinations for our customers. 

As a group, comprising passenger airlines Cathay Pacific and HK Express, we are now close to 60% of pre-pandemic passenger flight capacity levels. We are also on track to achieve our target of 70% covering more than 80 destinations by the end of this year, and 100% by the end of 2024. 

Regarding cargo, we expect to return to about 85% of pre-pandemic cargo flight capacity by the end of 2023.

We have played our part by maintaining hub connectivity even during the most difficult times, ensuring the important flow of people and cargo continued. We are very proud to have contributed to Hong Kong International Airport once again being named the world's busiest cargo airport in 2022. 

Furthermore, the Three-Runway System at Hong Kong International Airport will be fully operational by late 2024. This will usher in a new era of exciting opportunities.

How does Cathay Pacific look at Bangladesh's market? Is there a plan to expand Cathay Pacific's weekly direct flights between Dhaka and Hong Kong? Do you plan to add new destinations from Dhaka? 

We currently operate three passenger flights and starting 4 November 2023, we will operate four flights per week between Dhaka and Hong Kong. 

While Hong Kong is our home, we continue to progressively increase our passenger flight capacity and add more frequencies to popular destinations, in particular the Chinese Mainland, US, South Asia and Japan.

What are the potential areas of growth in Bangladesh's aviation market for Cathay Pacific?

We resumed our operations in 2022, and by the beginning of 2024, we expect to scale back to our pre-Covid-19 flight capacity from Bangladesh. 

Our increased passenger flight capacity will provide our customers with increased flexibility and flight options, along with convenience when travelling with Cathay Pacific. 

Notably, passenger traffic from Bangladesh has been steadily increasing, particularly to our top destinations and we continue to be a preferred choice given our premium product and service.

Moreover, the third terminal of the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport will add considerable value to the aviation landscape in Bangladesh. This modern terminal, equipped with world-class facilities, will elevate the level of service we provide to Cathay Pacific customers, ensuring a seamless and exceptional travel experience. 

We look forward to further strengthening our presence in Bangladesh and are committed to offering the highest standard of service to our valued customers. 

Cathay Pacific handles a lot of cargo from Bangladesh. What advantage does Cathay Pacific offer to the business community regarding cargo handling, over other airlines? What is the future of the air cargo business for Bangladesh?

Cathay Cargo's ambition is to be the most customer-centric air cargo brand in the world. 

We are committed to upholding and strengthening Hong Kong as the world's busiest air cargo hub. We opened a new 1,250sqm purpose-built Pharma Handling Centre at the Cathay Cargo Terminal. 

We also became the first carrier (Cathay Cargo) and first cargo terminal operator (Cathay Cargo Terminal) to have cargo shipments accepted in Dongguan Logistics Park and transported to HKIA by ship for outbound airfreight in February 2023. 

We continue to invest in building air-cargo expertise to deliver what customers want and to set it and the Hong Kong international aviation hub apart from competitors.

Recent investments include: Ultra Track, a next-generation track-and-trace tool; putting purchase and confirmation into customers' hands with Click & Ship; revamping the range of specialist handling solutions; infrastructural upgrades including the Pharma Handling Centre at the Cathay Cargo Terminal; digitalising processes and using data to benchmark and measure performance.

Furthermore, Cathay Cargo was named Cargo Airline of the Year 2023 by Air Transport World, and Sustainable Cargo Airline of the Year - Asia by Freightweek.

Cathay Cargo offers committed excellence and provides a complete solution to customers for their valued shipment. 

We have comprehensive solutions for both general and special cargo. 

At Cathay Cargo, we believe every shipment matters. From handling temperature-sensitive vaccines and fresh produce to caring for champion horses, our experts ensure that all our cargo arrives ready to make a difference to the world.

Our extensive cargo handling expertise enables a range of specialised solutions to handle shipments requiring special care as we work to accommodate customers' growing demands. 

Our quality, expertise and innovation are the key differentiator from other airlines. With our tailored cargo services, customers can expect nothing less than efficiency, know-how, and reliability for every shipment.

Cathay Cargo endeavours to provide more efficient and reliable air cargo services, professional and insightful team, innovative air cargo solutions, our value-adding service and online platform. 

Here in Cathay Cargo, we believe "We know how". 

Being a globally acclaimed export zone and a major contributor to RMG exports, Bangladesh has a strong potential with regards to air cargo. Over time, we have seen an increased dependency on air shipment.

Given the challenges due to the global economic crisis, we did witness a brief slowdown, but it has not been a deterrent to the increasing demand for air cargo from Bangladesh. 

Air transport connects Bangladesh to cities around the world, especially for the growing demand of ready-made garments to Europe and the US.

Apart from that, in recent years, we have observed product diversification — which is very important to overcome the sole dependency on readymade garment products only. 

It is very promising to witness increased demand for other export products like fresh fruits, vegetables, crabs, eels, pharma, finished leather and leather products, mobile phones, lenses, LED lamps, etc. 

Many Japanese, Korean, and Chinese companies are either shifting their production plant or building new export manufacturing facilities here and the numbers are growing gradually. 

All of these are clear indications of growing demand and potential of cargo business from Bangladesh in coming days. 

Moreover, the new facility in the upcoming third terminal will surely play a very vital role in the air cargo growth from Bangladesh as this will enable us with more capacity.

Cathay Pacific has recently chosen to purchase 32 Airbus A321-200neo aircrafts to expand the fleet capacity of the budget-friendly airline Hong Kong Express. Do you have any plan to introduce the Hong Kong Express here too as other airlines have been focusing on budget flights? 

Our dual-brand strategy, comprising Cathay Pacific as a premium full-service airline and HK Express as a wholly owned low-cost carrier, enables us to cater to the needs of all customers.

We have announced our intention to purchase up to 32 Airbus A321neo and A320neo aircrafts. 

These aircrafts are expected to be delivered by 2029 and will join the fleets of Cathay Pacific and HK Express, principally serving destinations in the Chinese Mainland and elsewhere in Asia.

Adding state-of-the-art, fuel-efficient aircraft enables us to continue growing our network and connecting our customers with more flights and destinations.