Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific cancels 21 flights for Monday, almost double daily average announced in plan to ease Lunar New Year strain

Some who faced cancellations on Monday expressed frustration with the abrupt and unexpected change to their travel plans.

One Facebook user said their Monday morning flight to Japan’s Kansai Airport near Osaka had been cancelled late last night, but that customer service staff were unsure whether another flight could be arranged for the same day.

“Our hotels to Kyoto are already booked and paid [for], what should I do?” the user wrote.

Affected routes for Monday’s cancellations included Singapore, Dubai, Beijing, Seoul, Bangkok and Vancouver.

Separately, the airline on Sunday cancelled at least 10 departing and nine arriving flights

The Post has reached out to Cathay Pacific for comment.

Secretary for Transport and Logistics Lam Sai-hung on Monday said he had expressed his “grave concerns” to Cathay’s senior management about their plan, and called on the airline to “carefully review flight allocation and manpower arrangements, maintain good communication with employees, and ensure that it provides stable and reliable services to passengers”.

He said Cathay should notify affected passengers “as soon as possible” and “provide appropriate support” such as transferring passengers to its other flights, or even those of other airlines.

The airline called off almost 70 flights during the Christmas and New Year holidays, citing “higher-than-expected pilot absences caused by seasonal illness”. It had added 8 per cent more daily flights for the period, according to an internal memo seen earlier by the Post.

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Many pilots had worked hard throughout the year and were reaching their limit of 900 flying hours per year, the memo said.

Some pilots earlier told the Post that flight cancellations might persist due to the shortage of experienced cockpit crew, expressing concerns about possible safety issues triggered by fatigue.

According to the Hong Kong Aircrew Officers Association, Cathay had 2,532 pilots as of last month, compared with 3,885 in the fourth quarter of 2019, a nearly 35 per cent decrease.

The company earlier said it aimed to return to pre-pandemic passenger flight capacity by the end of 2024.