Aircraft operated by Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd are parked on the tarmac at Hong Kong International Airport in Hong Kong, Aug 7, 2020. (PHOTO / BLOOMBERG)

Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. flew just 18,539 passengers in March - a daily average of 598 and a slump of 94 percent from a year earlier - as it continued to operate a very limited schedule compared with before the pandemic.

We only managed to maintain a skeleton schedule in March, operating passenger services to just 18 destinations.

Ronald Lam, Chief customer and commercial officer, Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd

Passenger load factor fell 28 percentage points to 21.2 percent and capacity measured in available seat kilometers tumbled by 90 percent, the Hong Kong-based carrier said in a statement Friday. It carried 83,329 tons of cargo, down 30 percent from the previous March, though load factor improved to a record 86.4 percent, with strong demand from Northeast Asia and the Americas.

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“We only managed to maintain a skeleton schedule in March, operating passenger services to just 18 destinations,” Chief Customer and Commercial Officer Ronald Lam said in the statement. Average daily passenger numbers were 755 in February, he said.

Cathay has been operating more frequently to London this month to cater to demand for student travel, Lam said, adding that the company welcomed Hong Kong’s decision to lift a ban on flights from the UK in May. A plan to ease mandatory quarantine measures for travelers from the Chinese mainland and lower-risk places is also “a positive step in the right direction,” he said.

READ MORE: Cathay crew to work 21-day stints to avoid quarantine

Cathay’s shares rose 1.85 percent to close at HK$7.15 in Hong Kong on Friday.