Originally Posted by
HarbourGent
Post-plague has seen a boom in premium leisure travel on cash tickets and airlines have been taking advantage. If Cathay makes the potential changes discussed above (which at this point is pure speculation) it will be making the same mistake as BA and others, of taking legions of high-volume but relatively low yield flyers (both business and leisure) for granted only to discover, come the next big demand downturn that it has lost loyalty it built over years. Classic mistake - and disappointingly tacky - but understandable given the dichotomy of "loyalty programmes" (from our view) and "profit maximisation" programmes (from the airlines').
Cathay is still in an essentially monopolistic position - I believe they make a lot of their profit from the Japan routes, but just look at the competitors on major routes to Sapporo and Osaka and Fukuoka (hint: it's their own subsidiary HK Express, or the less-than-great HK Airlines and Greater Bay Airlines).
The post-pandemic boom from HK has really been Japan travel (much like the rest of the world) and they are absolutely cashing in. I wish JL or NH would challenge them more on these non-Tokyo tier 1 cities.