Cathay Pacific Photo: cnsphoto

Cathay Pacific and HK Express on Monday said that they have canceled more flights to Japan in response to the unreasonable restrictions imposed by the Japanese government.

It was the second time for the carriers to make such announcements within two months. 

"We can only operate 72 flights per week into Japan, which is 13-15 flights per week less than what was originally planned and approved by the regulatory authorities for February to March of 2023," Cathay Pacific said in a release sent to the Global Times on Monday.

Cathay attributed the decision to the fact that the Japanese government continues to mandate a limit on the maximum number of flights each carrier can operate from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) to Japan.

"Looking ahead, we intend to resume five return flights per week to Nagoya from March 31. As the total number of flights originally planned in April and May is similar to the maximum number of flights that we are permitted to operate by the Japanese authorities from the Hong Kong SAR to six airports in Japan, we anticipate minimal disruption to our flight schedule in April and May," Cathay said. 

HK Express said on Monday it can only operate 74 flights per week into Japan, which is 20-22 flights per week fewer than what was originally planned for March 2023.

The carrier also attributed the move to the fact that the Japanese government continues to mandate a limit on the maximum number of flights each carrier can operate from the Hong Kong SAR to Japan.

"Hence, to comply with the latest restrictions, HK Express must cancel certain flights (including return flights from Japan) between Hong Kong and Japan from March 3-30." 

Cathay Pacific and HK Express announced in January that they would axe some flights between Hong Kong and Japan in the first half of February due to the limitations imposed by the Japanese government.  

Global Times