CEO of Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific apologises for wave of flight cancellations, promises no new service disruptions

“This incident affected the travel arrangements of many travellers and brought a lot of inconvenience. Our entire team, including myself, feels really sorry. We will learn from this incident and make improvements.”

Too few pilots, roster chaos: behind Cathay Pacific’s flight cancellations

Lam said there would be no new cancellations besides those already announced.

Cathay called off almost 70 flights during the Christmas and New Year holidays citing “higher-than-expected pilot absences caused by seasonal illness”.

On Sunday, Cathay announced it would cut a dozen flights a day on average until the end of February to avoid disruptions during the busy Lunar New Year period.

A check by the Post found Cathay cancelled 21 flights on Monday, the same number on Tuesday, 12 on Wednesday and 20 on Thursday.

Alex McGowan, the airline’s chief operations and service delivery officer, issued an apology on Wednesday, admitting the company had “underestimated” the number of reserve pilots needed over the year-end period, which led to several flights being axed.

McGowan said the current round of cuts until the end of February had been made in advance to “assure our customers that similar last-minute disruptions will not occur”.

Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu on Tuesday expressed concerns over the cancellation saga and urged the airline to quickly address the situation.