Cathay Pacific hit by financial storm

Hong Kong- Cathay Pacific Airways and Dragonair's total passenger business dropped by 0.7% in September, and has launched a "World Pass" fare promotion to boost sales.

Titus Diu, GM of cargo sales & marketing, said they were expecting a post-Olympics surge from Mainland China but there was no significant improvement before the Mid-Autumn Festival or National Day holidays.

"Currently, the only market showing consistent weakness is Northeast Asia, though the situation could change in the aftermath of the recent financial crisis."

The flight routes to North East Asia and Europe suffered most in September that the combined traffic of both Cathay Pacific and Dragonair posted a 7.1% and 6.8% decline, respectively, compared to the same month last year.

The flight routes in China also dropped 4.7%.

This week, Cathay Pacific's ad agency McCann Erickson rolled out a "World Pass" fare promotion in Hong Kong in an effort to provide good-value deals for customers in its home market.

Cathay Pacific said this promotion is just a tactical promotion to boost business in accordance to market demand. And "Getaway Surprise" is also another promotion that offers weekly specials on either Cathay Pacific or Dragonair.

The group said no event or campaign has been planned for Christmas and New Year holidays.