Air Transport

Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific Airways, which is cutting capacity dramatically, is in negotiations with Airbus and Boeing to delay delivery of A330, 777-300ER, 747-8 freighter and 747-400ER freighter aircraft on order.

Cathay says in a statement it is “in negotiations with manufacturers to defer deliveries of new aircraft and looking into whether to renew aircraft leases that expire”.

The Oneworld alliance carrier currently has 20 777-300ERs, ten 747-8Fs, three 747-400ERFs and eight A330-300s on order, according to Flight’s ACAS database.

A Cathay spokeswoman in Hong Kong confirms the airline is in negotiations to delay delivery of all these aircraft types.

The airline has also been trying to sell five Boeing 777-200s in the current fleet.

Cathay’s spokeswoman says it is now parking a total of five 747-400BC freighters whereas previously it was only planning to park three.

Cathay’s sister carrier Dragonair says in a separate statement it is parking its last freighter. Instead it will be relying on bellyhold space on its passenger aircraft - Airbus A320-family and A330s - to provide cargo services.

It also says “leases on two A330s and one A320 will not be renewed when they expire in June and October”.

The move to delay deliveries comes as Cathay and Dragonair cut passenger capacity by 8% and 13% respectively. Cathay has also stated publicly that overall cargo capacity will fall 11%.