I thought it would be interesting to compile a list of airline flight (permanent) cancellations downguages due to the current situation in Hong Kong.
Cathay have already announced a big round of cuts due to a 38% fall in inbound passenger numbers and 12% fall on outbound.
As a summary of what I have seen so far:
Cancelling Dublin and their New York-Vancouver-Hong Kong.
Cancelling their daytime flights to Paris and Frankfurt.
Reducing frequency of flights to Vancouver, New York and Washington.
Reduction in flights to Beijing, Medan and Tokyo.
With a fall that great in passenger numbers, I can't imagine that there won't be further cuts. CX will also have to very heavily discount seats on transit routings to get bums on seats which will be very bad for the bottom line.
Scott Kirby (CEO of United) described the Hong Kong market as 'terrible' for the airline. Yes, he did actually say 'terrible'.
United have cancelled Guam and Chicago to Hong Kong and have announced the use of smaller planes on the SFO and Newark routes (All going from 777-300ER to the smaller 777-200ER with older business class product).
I was searching for flights from London to Hong Kong this November for a potential visit and noted that BA were selling return flights for £415. Yes, I know it's out of season, but I don't think I have ever seen BA that low! There are connecting flights on the likes of KLM and Lufthansa for £350. That can't be sustainable.