With everything going on in the world, Cathay Pacific has slashed its capacity and grounded a majority of its fleet. The airline is currently seeing 1% of its normal passenger traffic.
Because of this, the airline likely won’t need new aircraft until demand begins to recover.
Cathay Pacific currently has 21 Boeing 777-9s on order, with the first set to be delivered starting from 2021.
Cathay Pacific is now considering delaying its 777X orders or even switching them to 787-10 Dreamliners.
Oil prices low, low amount of revenue for them in this time and most likely in the long run. It’s a good decision considering how expensive the 777-9s are.
Not sure if the oil prices will continue to stay low though. With that being said, there’s plenty of life left in their 77W’s, especially given they’ve got heaps of them. I’d really love for the 77W’s to stay in the fleet for longer.
Due to its smaller size, the A350 series will be more beneficial to them if demand never fully recovers. Plus, operating less aircraft types reduces operating costs. They could increase their order in a few years, but hopefully situations won’t be that dire.
I don’t think the oil prices will shoot up immediately this pandemic is over. People will be hesitant to travel etc which would make the demand for oil stay low for a while. The 77Ws still have plenty of life in them still ;)
It’s not confirmd yet, but still rumored. What I think will happen is that they’ll convert some orders to 78X’s, and keep some of their 77W’s around for even longer. There is another interesting article here: Cathay Pacific’s Fleet Puzzle: Swap 777X For 787 Dreamliners?
If Cathay convert some of the orders to 78X, then they can retire the aging 333 in Dragonair’s fleet. However, I’m still looking forward to seeing 77X as they will introduce new First and Business cabin.
