The move, in response to the spread of the omicron variant, particular hurts Cathay Pacific, with most of the airline’s long-haul routes through Hong Kong.

The airline posted on its website:

“In response to the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in Hong Kong and around the world, the Hong Kong Airport Authority has announced continued restrictions on the use of Hong Kong International Airport as a transit point.

Until 11:59pm on 20 April 2022, transfer and transit services at Hong Kong International Airport will continue to be limited to passengers coming from non-high risk places.

Passengers on Cathay Pacific flights arriving from cities in the Chinese Mainland and Taiwan region may continue to connect to onward flights.

Passengers starting their journey with Cathay Pacific from any other destination will not be able to use Hong Kong as a transit point during this period.

We are contacting affected passengers via email with a range of options – including rebooking to a future date, obtaining a Cathay Credit or requesting a full refund.”

The new ban is an extension of a previous two-month ban imposed on January 1, 2022, that had been set to expire on March 15.

Cathay Pacific passenger traffic in February 2022 continued to be hampered by travel restrictions and quarantine requirements in Hong Kong as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.  

The airline carried a total of 31,253 passengers in February 2022, an increase of 48% compared to the same month in 2021, but a decrease of 98.9% compared to pre-pandemic levels in February 2019. The majority of passenger flights were conducted to and from the Chinese Mainland and Australia. 

“Travel and operational restrictions in place in Hong Kong continued to constrain our ability to operate more passenger flight capacity in February and we operated below 2% of pre-COVID-19 levels, a reduction of about 28% compared with January 2022,” Chief Customer and Commercial Officer Ronald Lam announced in a statement dated March 14, 2022.  

Looking ahead to March 2022, Cathay Pacific expects passenger traffic to come from the Chinese Mainland. However, the airline does not foresee significant signs of recovery in passenger travel demand.  

Passenger traffic results came just days after the airline released its earnings report for 2021. The carrier reduced its annual losses in 2021 but warned that tighter quarantine restrictions will further hamper passenger operations in 2022.