Cathay Korea executive says focus is on profitable routes

Though they're in competition these days, ocean carriers and airlines seem to have much the same strategy when it comes to combating rising fuel costs -- better cost management and a focus on lucrative routes.

Like the mantra of Singapore's APL, which has been blowing the profitability trumpet all year, air carriers have had to scale back services that provide no real returns. That much came out in an interview Lionel Kwok, Cathay Pacific's country manager for Korea, had with the Korea Herald over the weekend.

Besides all the cost management, we're talking about the network of redeployment, putting aircrafts on the routes that make more money, he said. We're constantly restudying where the revenue comes from and where the cost is.

For example, the newspaper reported, Cathay Pacific recently cut some U.S. flights and added services to India, Australia and the Middle East, where more demand is being generated, Kwok said. 

Source: American Shipper