HOW WE FLY
How does route planning change from winter to summer? By PHIL HEARD
Adjusting flight timetables to match the season
HERE’S AN UNSURPRISING piece of news: more people travel during peak holiday periods. Cathay Pacific knows this and tries to adjust its schedules accordingly.
Head of Passenger Network Jasmine Hui says: ‘ We have been trying seasonal destinations since we launched Barcelona in summer 2017. It was an obvious seasonal route as people don’t travel to Europe for holiday in winter.’
But it’s not solely about short-term revenue opportunity. The routes also give the airline the chance to test and develop year-round services. Barcelona was the first seasonal route to become a permanent service.
‘For a route to change from seasonal to year-round it needs to be supported by corporate travel,’ adds Hui. Spain is a growing destination for the Hong Kong market, so rather than cannibalising the existing Madrid service, Barcelona helped to bolster this demand.
Launching seasonal services also helps the airline stimulate the market. One of this summer’s new seasonal routes is to Komatsu in Japan. Cathay Pacific used to operate charters there for organised tour groups; now it’s a twiceweekly summer route helping people enjoy the scenery of Mount Haku.
There are also peak opportunities for established ‘trunk’ routes. This summer, Madrid and Paris will get step-ups in frequency. During the winter season (October until the end of March) there are 10 flights a week to Paris. But from June, this will increase to 12, and on 1 July, twice- daily. Hui says: ‘ Where there’s demand at peak times, seats become less available and sometimes more expensive. Added capacity can therefore stimulate demand.’
In Paris’ case, it’s leading to an unusual anomaly. ‘Normally when you build up a schedule you want to diversify the timetable,’ says Hui – most second daily flights depart with an interval of 12 hours. Not so for Paris. ‘ We saw that there was demand for the midnight departure, so the final two flights we are adding in July depart within an hour of the existing daily flights. That’s bold – around 600 seats in an hour.’眾所周知，趁著假期出外旅遊的人有增無減。有見及此，國泰航空在規劃航班時亦作出相應調整。
客運網絡主管許瑋玲表示：「我們自
2017年夏天開辦巴塞羅那季節性航線後，不斷嘗試提供其他目的地的季節性航線。旅客通常不會於冬季到歐洲度假，因此該航線明顯是因應季節而設的。」
季節性航線不僅帶來短期收益，更有助國泰測試市場反應，作為拓展長期航線的參考。巴塞羅那就是第一條由季節性轉為長期的航線。
許瑋玲補充道：「一條季節性航線若要發展成長期航線，必須得到商務旅遊市場的支持。」西班牙近年逐漸成為香港市場的熱門目的地，巴塞羅那航線不僅未有削弱馬德里航線的市場份額，反而令西班牙航班服務的需求增加。
提供季節性航線亦有助刺激市場。今年夏季，國泰推出飛往日本小松市的全新季節性航線。過去，國泰曾為旅行團提供前往當地的機服務，現在則提供每周兩班的夏季航線，讓旅客前往當地欣賞白山的優美風景。
旅遊旺季亦會為乘客量穩定的主要航線帶來大好機會。今年夏季，馬德里及巴黎航線將加密班次。10月至3月底的冬季期間，每星期有十班機前往巴黎，但由6月開始將增至12班，由71月 日起，更增至每天兩班機飛往巴黎。許瑋玲說：「旺季時機票需求量大增，導致價格上漲，增加班次有助刺激需求。」
而巴黎的例子更促使國泰改變慣例。許瑋玲表示：「編排航班時，我們通常會在航班時間表內提供多元化的時間選擇。」例如同一天的第二班機通常跟第一班相隔12小時，但巴黎是個例外。「我們留意到旅客對午夜出發的航班需求甚殷，因此我們於
7月新增的最後兩班機，起飛時間跟原有的航班只相距一小時。這表示一小時內有600個座位提供，實在是很進取的決定。」