THE Christmas-New Year holiday period is set to provide a much-needed fillip for airlines faced with falling passenger numbers and turbulent financial markets.
Airline spokesmen said holiday business this year would be at least as good as it was last year, and several forecast better-than-average loads.
Cathay Pacific Airways has won Civil Aviation Department (CAD) approval for an extra 32 flights during the period.
Cathay has been hit hard by the drop in the number of travellers visiting the SAR, especially Japanese tourists. Recently, it has had to cancel flights on some routes.
Cathay Pacific spokesman Kwan Chuk-fai said it received 25 to 30 per cent of the additional landing and take-off slots available for added services in the period.
'Most [of the extra flights] are to Bangkok. There are a few flights to Seoul, Japan and Manila,' he said.