In the wake of falling demand and in reaction to the Hong Kong government's Preparedness and Response Plan for the new coronavirus infection, Cathay Pacific (CX, Hong Kong International) and Cathay Dragon (Hong Kong International) will gradually reduce capacity on flights to China by 50% or more from January 30 to the end of March.

The measures taken by the airlines have become necessary as the new coronavirus has now caused more than 100 deaths, spread across China and to at least 16 countries around the world.

"We are actively reviewing our flight schedules at the moment and will be updating them progressively over the next 48 hours," said the airline in a statement. Cathay Pacific also confirmed that all rebooking, rerouting and refund charges will be "waived for all tickets issued worldwide (irrespective of fare type) on or before January 28, 2020, for travel on Cathay Pacific/Cathay Dragon confirmed bookings arriving to or departing from mainland China between January 28 and March 31, 2020."

According to the ch-aviation Commercial Aviation Operator Schedule Data module, Cathay Pacific flies 65 weekly frequencies to six Chinese destinations - namely Shanghai Pudong (27x weekly), Beijing Capital (21x weekly), Chongqing (8x weekly), Zhengzhou (5x weekly), Xiamen (3x weekly), and Chengdu Shuangliu (1x weekly) - for a total of 13,020 weekly seats. By contrast, Cathay Dragon is much larger, serving 22 destinations and offering 314 frequencies over 77,000 weekly seats. China commands nearly 58% of capacity flown to the 13 country markets served by Cathay Dragon.