A check by the Post of Tuesday’s flights found a further 21 cancellations, again almost double the average of 12 flights the carrier said it would cut every day until the end of February.

Lee acknowledged that the pandemic had heavily affected flight capacity, and efforts had been made to address the issue, but urged the airline to overcome its challenges “very quickly and very effectively”.

“I understand this capacity constraint exists in many cities similar to Hong Kong,” he said. “But in this competitive world, I want our aviation industry to rebuild its capacity fast and completely so that we will be competitive as a whole.

“Also, I think it is the basic service requirement for airlines to provide satisfactory service to passengers,” he said, calling for both short- and long-term solutions.

The chief executive added that the Transport and Logistics Bureau would contact Cathay’s management to relay the government’s goals and see how they could work together to ensure passengers were offered the best services.

In a statement on Tuesday night, Cathay said it understood the concerns of the government and the public and had learned from the experience.

“Once again, we sincerely apologise to all our affected customers,” it said. “As we continue to rebuild, Cathay Pacific is committed to providing customers with more flight choices in a measured and reliable manner.”

The carrier also said it would work closely with the bureau and the Civil Aviation Department, and “make appropriate arrangements for affected customers including offering protection to the closest available flights, or a refund”.

The department also said it had met Cathay’s management earlier in the day and expressed its concern over the issue.

It said it asked the company to properly manage its deployment of manpower and other resources to ensure the stable provision of reliable flight services to passengers, especially for meeting demand during the Lunar New Year peak season.

The department said it also asked the airline to submit a report by the end of this month on the incident to prevent reoccurrence of similar situations.

How did woman reportedly get on Hong Kong-bound Cathay plane without boarding pass?

On Sunday, Cathay said it planned to cut an average of 12 flights a day until the end of February to ensure it had sufficient staffing for the coming Lunar New Year holiday, following a wave of cancellations over the Christmas and New Year break because of a shortage of experienced pilots for passenger flights.

Monday’s 21 cancelled flights covered routes to Singapore, Dubai, Beijing, Seoul, Bangkok and Vancouver. Some passengers complained that they were only told about cancellations hours before their flights and were put on other services without being consulted.

Secretary for Transport and Logistics Lam Sai-hung earlier expressed his “grave concerns” over the plan and urged the airline to “carefully review flight allocation and manpower arrangements, maintain good communication with employees, and ensure that it provides stable and reliable services to passengers”.

The Hong Kong Aircrew Officers Association, which represents Cathay pilots, on Tuesday said the current capacity problem stemmed from the airline’s 2020 decision to reduce staff costs permanently, fire pilots and flight attendants, and close their mainland China-oriented regional carrier, Cathay Dragon.

The union accused the airline’s leadership of giving staff “implausible targets supported by unfathomable claims” and dressing up “failure” as “success” by hailing a 70 per cent recovery in flight capacity from pre-pandemic levels despite the 30 per cent shortfall.

Hong Kong’s Cathay cuts flights to ease Lunar New Year holiday strain

“Hong Kong aviation will continue to suffer until there is an acknowledgement of these mistakes and a change in leadership, particularly among those responsible for overseeing flight operations,” the union said.

According to the association, the carrier had 2,532 pilots as of last month, a decrease of nearly 35 per cent compared with the 3,885 in the fourth quarter of 2019.

A Cathay spokesman previously said the company planned to hire about 5,000 people this year.

Lawmaker Gary Zhang Xinyu, who sits on the Legislative Council’s transport panel, said the extensive flight cancellations reflected the low morale of employees of the company, which had “reaped as it had sown”.

“The management still thinks employees will stay committed to the brand despite the way they were treated in the past few years,” he said. “And now they found out it was the other way around.”

He added the government could do little to solve the problem as Cathay was a corporate entity.

“It is down to one pressing issue – providing incentives to those who are willing to stick with the company, like offering a 30 per cent bonus.”

Additional reporting by Harvey Kong and Danny Mok