Airport attack aftermath: Cathay Pacific decides to pack its baggage

Hong Kong-based airline to suspend flights to Pakistan from this month .

KARACHI:

The Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific announced on Tuesday that it will be suspending flights to Pakistan from this month. The decision came as a result of the attack at Karachi airport which forced insurance premiums on aircraft to shoot up.

The announcement came through Cathay’s Pakistan representative who said the airline will operate the last flight from Karachi to Hong Kong on June 29.

“The airline had actually decided to wrap up operations soon after the devastating attack on June 8,” said Feroze Jamal, Cathay Pacific’s Country Manager Pakistan. “But we convinced them to keep flying for a few more days to clear the backlog of passengers. We tried to do whatever we could to make the head office reconsider its decision. But you must realise it’s a privately-owned airline. The question mark over safety and security of airline passengers and cabin crew convinced the management to take a final decision.”



Jamal said that the reason for stopping the flights was purely commercial and the high cost of risk insurance was one of them. “Forward booking of air tickets to Pakistan had dropped in recent months. Only some Chinese people were coming on business trips and even that traffic dipped. Political turmoil in Thailand also eroded the profits of Cathy Pacific’s flights from Karachi to Bangkok.”

Cathay operates four weekly flights to Karachi from Hong Kong and Bangkok. It started flights to Pakistan in September 2000 and suspended operation once before for three months when US-led NATO forces attacked Afghanistan.

Industry officials say security turmoil since the 2007 assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto has weighed heavily on the decision of foreign carriers to consider Pakistan as a possible destination. The recent threats by militants of attacking key installations including airports and foreigners have only worsened fears.

Pakistan’s international traffic is around 9 million passengers per year. The interest of many domestic businessmen to venture into airline business reflects the potential the country of 188 million holds. Leading airlines including British Airways, Singapore Airlines, Lufthansa and Malaysian Airlines scaled back their operation since 2012 due to concerns related to the security of their employees. British Airways, one of the finest airlines that came to Pakistani cities, suspended operation following a deadly attack on Islamabad’s Marriott Hotel in 2008.

Only 19 foreign carriers come to Pakistan. Other than the airlines originating from Gulf countries, the only notable carrier was Cathay Pacific, officials say.

No one from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) was immediately available to comment on the matter.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 18^th, 2014.

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