Hong Kong airline Cathay Pacific Airways posts smaller loss

Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific Airways said on Monday that it expected to post a narrower than expected HK $5.6 billion US $719.05 million to HK $6.1 billion annual loss for 2021, but that cash burn was rising because of stricter quarantine measures.

The airline's larger 2020 loss of HK $21.65 billion was included in aircraft impairments and restructuring charges as well as the average HK $10.2 billion estimate from 12 analysts polled by Refinitiv.

Cathay, which posted a HK $7.57 billion loss in the first half of 2021, said it had generated positive cashflow in the second half due to strong cargo demand.

The airline cut cargo and passenger capacity by HK $1 billion to HK $1.5 billion a month starting in February, after the government tightened crew quarantine restrictions.

Cathay has 2 percent of its pre-pandemic passenger capacity and about 20 percent of its pre-pandemic cargo capacity in January.

As conditions improve, we are doing everything in our power to maximize capacity, and estimate that mitigation measures to increase crew resources will allow us to operate approximately an additional 5 per cent more cargo flight capacity than we are currently operating, said Augustus Tang, Cathay chief executive.