OREANDA-NEWS. One of Asia's largest airlines, the Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific, has decided to close all crew bases in the United States and will cut nearly 300 of its staff in that country. This was reported on Friday by the South China Morning Post.

"As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, which actually halted global travel, Cathay Pacific made the difficult decision to close its crew bases in the United States", the spokesman said. We are talking about the elimination of bases in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles, where 286 employees will be laid off. In March, the airline lost a similar division in Vancouver.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, Cathay Pacifiс reduced passenger traffic by 97%, continuing to serve only a number of key destinations. In particular, the airline left only two flights a week to the United States (Los Angeles).