Cathay Pacific Airways is set to increase its flight frequency on the Mumbai – Hong Kong route by three weekly flights starting April 2, 2013. This will bring the flight frequency up to ten weekly flights on this route. At a recent press conference in Mumbai, Charlie Stewart-Cox, General Manager-South Asia, Middle East & Africa, Cathay Pacific Airways, revealed that India is among the top ten markets for the airline with a passenger load of approximately 80 per cent on average from India. “India is definitely a high potential market for us and we are constantly trying to emphasise our commitment to it,” said Stewart-Cox.
Anand Yedery, Area Sales Manager – Western India, Cathay pacific Airways, stated that the airline will be discontinuing its Mumbai-Bangkok flights to accommodate the new Hong Kong flights in its place. According to Stewart-Cox, demand for the latter is higher as Hong Kong is the airline’s home turf. “Bangkok has enough air transport supply from other airlines and is hence not a high yield route for us right now. Hong Kong is much more in demand and it is more beneficial for us to operate increased flights on this route,” he said.
In addition, their flights on the route will feature Premium Economy class cabins from March 2, 2013. Rakesh raicar, Regional Sales and Marketing Manager South Asia, Cathay Pacific Airways, revealed that a 30 per cent increase in yield is expected from India from the Premium Economy cabins. Speaking about the cancellation of Bangkok flights, Raicar opined that the route was a bottleneck for the airline thus providing low yields which led to the decision.
