Skift India Report: Cathay Pacific's Plan to Profit From India's Aviation Boom

Last week, Hong Kong-based carrier Cathay Pacific announced the resumption of three non-stop weekly flights from Chennai.

Skift caught up with Anand Yedery, regional head of customer travel and lifestyle for South Asia, Middle East and Africa at Cathay Pacific, to talk about the carrier’s plans for India.

Here’s what we found out…

India is a high priority market for the carrier. As Yedery said, “Airline operational levels in India have been soaring and this upward trend signifies a strong recovery. We are rebuilding our capacity as quickly as is feasible with more flights and destinations.”

Current Operations: Cathay operates out of Delhi with a double daily, a daily from Mumbai, and four times a week from Bengaluru. The thrice weekly from Chennai will start from February 2. 

Compared to Pre-Pandemic: However, according to Yedery, the carrier’s current 25 flights out of India is almost 50% of the 49 flights that it used to operate pre-pandemic as an airline group between Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon from six ports.

Outbound Destinations: Besides, Hong Kong, some of the destinations driving demand for Cathay Pacific from India include Japan, Korea, and Australia.

Emerging travel trends:

Travel to off-the-beaten-path destinations Focus on wellness and sustainability Exploring local cuisine. ‘Set-jetting,’ or visiting locations where TV shows and movies are filmed, is also gaining momentum.

Performance: With strong demand across segments like business, visiting friends and relatives, leisure and student travel, Cathay Pacific’s demand from India has been witnessing an upward trajectory.

“Our load factors have been in a healthy range from all three markets that we currently operate from,” said Yedery.

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