Cathay Pacific has nearly doubled its U.S. service since Hong Kong became one of the last major global destinations to put an end to Covid-19 travel restrictions in April 2023.
But the airline has been negatively impacted by Boeing's delivery woes -- an important factor preventing Cathay from resuming its full prepandemic U.S. network.
"I think the demand from North America is there," said Sarah Kraemer, Cathay's head of sales operations and enablement for North America. "We aren't unique or alone in the fact that the industry as a whole is dealing with constraints with aircraft, airplane crews and ground operations."
Cathay is flying to Hong Kong from New York JFK, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston and Chicago, but prepandemic service from Seattle, Washington Dulles and Newark is not yet scheduled. Overall, it's flying 40.4% fewer seats to and from the U.S. this month than it did in May 2019, Cirium flight schedule data shows.
It's a network dynamic that differs from some other full-service Asian carriers. Capacity between the U.S. and mainland China remains sharply below the prepandemic level, in part because of capacity restrictions being imposed by the rival global powers. But Korean, All Nippon Airways (ANA), Singapore and Japan Airlines are each flying at least 87% of their prepandemic U.S. seat count this month, with seat counts at ANA and Singapore above the 2019 level.
Kraemer said that Cathay's long-haul growth has been constrained by delivery delays of Boeing 777-9 aircraft. The carrier had originally planned to take all 22 of those planes it has on order between 2021 and the end of this year. But since Boeing hasn't yet achieved certification for the aircraft, deliveries won't begin until next year at the earliest.
Cathay, said Kraemer, is calibrating its North American recovery to ensure reliable operations while factoring in what is best for its entire network.
"North America is only a piece of the whole of the Cathay network," she said. "There's a lot that goes into justifying or determining what gets added. There are still plans for growing in North America, but as it fits in with the larger picture."
Networkwide, Cathay expects to achieve 80% capacity recovery this quarter and get back to its 2019 flying level in the first quarter of next year.
Joshua Ng, a Singapore-based director for Alton Aviation Consultancy, said that Cathay is focusing most aggressively on rebuilding its regional network, which is a necessary ingredient for regenerating and feeding one-stop demand to North America and Europe via Hong Kong.
"This is a way for them to capture some of the benefits of increased flying and profitability while ramping up to eventually get back to where they were in the pre-Covid environment," Ng said.
The strategy helped the Cathay Group, which also includes the budget Asian regional carrier Hong Kong Express, return to the black in 2023 despite lagging demand from the mainland China market due to that nation's economic downturn.
But in addition to the delayed aircraft deliveries, Ng also said Cathay's networkwide growth has been constrained by Hong Kong labor shortages, including a pilot shortage.
In the meantime, the carrier has focused its U.S. rebuild over the past year on increasing frequencies on the routes it was already operating.
For example, Cathay has increased its JFK-Hong Kong frequency to three-times daily from twice-daily a year ago. On March 31, Cathay also brought a Boeing 777-300ER aircraft back to JFK, enabling it to once again offer first-class seats in the New York market.