Cathay Dragon (KA, Hong Kong Int'l) is expecting to initially use its fleet of thirty-two incoming A321-200neo aircraft on routes linking its Hong Kong hub with Chinese cities, the group Chief Executive Officer Rupert Hogg told Bloomberg in an interview.
Back in August 2017, Cathay inked a Memorandum of Understanding with Airbus (AIB, Toulouse Blagnac) for the new generation narrowbody aircraft that are due to be delivered to Hong Kong between 2020 and 2023.
Hogg said that as part of its restructuring plan that will see the group contain costs while "expanding and upgrading" its network, the new A321neo would replace Cathay Dragon's existing narrowbody fleet of fifteen A320-200s and eight A321-200s initially on routes to China.
According to ch-aviation capacity data, Cathay Dragon currently deploys 57.57% of its weekly capacity out of Hong Kong on routes to mainland China, followed by Taiwan with 11.82% and Malaysia with 8.44%. It also operates to Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, India, Cambodia, South Korea, Myanmar, Nepal, the Philippines, Bangladesh, and Indonesia. Its fleet also includes twenty-five A330-300s.