Omicron: Cathay Pacific at 2% of 2019 passenger capacity

The Asia-Pacific travel industry's hopes for a much brighter 2022 have taken an early hit, with some major markets tightening travel restrictions due to the continued spread of the omicron variant of COVID-19.

Several countries in the region have reimposed restrictions on international arrivals or have suspended newly introduced border relaxations. And in other cases, governments have delayed long-awaited plans to reopen for international travel.

These moves will hurt fourth-quarter 2021 and first-quarter 2022 results for airlines heavily exposed to these markets. India, Thailand and New Zealand are examples of Asia-Pacific countries that have that postponed plans to ease international border restrictions significantly due to omicron.

But as always - airlines such as Cathay Pacific and Singapore Airlines that do not have domestic networks are likely to be affected the most.