Flights of fancy: Excel sheets collide with in-flight service

AS HONG KONG struggles back onto the tourism charts, several misdirected official pronouncements have placed immense pressure on flag carrier Cathay Pacific to launch new routes to China and to the Middle East. None of this has anything to do with profitability – the airline announced an attributable profit of HK$9.7 million (S$1.7 million) in 2023, a pittance in the scheme of things. This has to do with patriotic hubris, which has seen the downfall of many a proud flag carrier starting with the bankruptcy in 1991 of US biggie Pan Am that had planted the national flag just about everywhere. Pan Am’s decline no doubt was aided by poor management, but it was a highly overstretched brand.

There are profound lessons in that unprecedented collapse. Airlines reorganised themselves along more economic lines in deregulated skies. Planting national flags around the world was replaced by tough management and a focus on quality service to attain profitability. The last thing a once-premium carrier such as Cathay needs is government or travel agencies demanding lockstep expansion to match political objectives. Passengers and profits must come first.

As mainland cities open up to easier travel to Hong Kong, the airline will certainly be free to respond to fresh demand as it has with the announcement of new flights to Riyadh in October 2024. Cathay Pacific currently serves around 80 destinations compared with 109 destinations in 2018. These numbers say it all.