Per Bloomberg, Cathay Pacific wants to grow its narrowbody fleet by acquiring Airbus A321neos as part of a new leasing agreement.
The 18 total Airbus A321neos that Cathay Pacific is eyeing would be delivered from 2025 to 2027, permitting a deal crossing the line.
Cathay Pacific was one of the hardest-hit airlines during the pandemic and, ultimately, a carrier that was also one of the slowest to recover from the effects. This essentially is down to the tightness of travel restrictions placed on the people of Hong Kong and those wishing to travel to the location.
Cathay Pacific has 151 in-service aircraft, according to the latest Cirium fleet data, and 38 units remain in storage. This is already 12 of the Airbus A321neo series, quickly across the Cathay Pacific Group, becoming a vital narrowbody.
A potential further acquisition would only increase its presence for decades and make the airline’s efficiency for narrowbody operations even more optimal.
In June, Cathay Pacific celebrated a milestone that saw them carry 60,000 passengers in a single day for the first time since the emergence of the pandemic. This starkly contrasts only one year prior when numbers still hovered around the 30,000 passengers carried monthly.
While Cathay Pacific still has a long way to go for it to be able to recover fully, it is on the right track with a 2,230% improvement for passengers carried in the first six months of 2023 in comparison to 2022.
