Cathay Warns Of Even Bigger Loss In Second Half

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2020-12-16 HKT 18:08

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  • Cathay Pacific says low demand, restructuring charges and impairments to its fleet of planes have contributed to the widened losses. File photo: RTHK

    Cathay Pacific says low demand, restructuring charges and impairments to its fleet of planes have contributed to the widened losses. File photo: RTHK

Cathay Pacific has warned that its second-half loss will be “significantly higher” than its record first-half loss of nearly HK$9.9 billion.

In a statement announcing its November traffic figures, Hong Kong’s flag carrier said low demand, restructuring charges and impairments to its fleet of planes have contributed to the widened losses.

"We are still not seeing any meaningful improvement in our passenger business," Cathay's chief customer and commercial officer Ronald Lam said.

The troubled airline reported a 98.8 percent fall in passenger numbers last month, and a 26.2 percent decline in cargo carriage.

"Given the slow speed of recovery, we expect to operate about 9 percent of pre-Covid-19 capacity in December and slightly above 10 percent in January 2021," Lam said of the passenger business.

Cathay said in October that it was cutting 5,900 jobs to help it weather the pandemic, including nearly all of the positions at its regional airline Cathay Dragon, which it shut down.

As part of the restructuring plan, expected to cost HK$2.2 billion, the remaining pilots and flight attendants signed new contracts that resulted in permanent pay cuts.

The embattled carrier received a HK$39 billion rescue package from the government in June.

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