Cathay Pacific Airways liquidity unclear

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Cathay Pacific Airways liquidity unclear

A senior executive said on Wednesday that Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd, Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd, has maintained a strong liquidity position at a time when the impact of the Omicron variant of COVID 19 on travel demand remains unclear.

The airline's liquidity of HK $31.7 billion $4.07 billion was down from $32.8 billion at the end of October, due to a strong performance in the air cargo business.

It is too early to assess the impact of the Omicron variant on travel demand, said Ronald Lam, Cathay Chief Customer and Commercial Officer, in an analysts' briefing.

Cathay last month said it expected its second-half results to improve considerably from the first half, but it still forecasts a significant loss for the full year.

The airline has suffered from COVID 19 pandemic-related travel restrictions, operating at only 10% of pre-pandemic passenger capacity in October and posting a 97.2% decline in passenger numbers from 2019.

Cathay switched some inbound passenger flights for December to cargo last week, after not enough pilots volunteered to fly rosters to high-risk destinations that involve five weeks locked in hotel rooms.

Hong Kong has added countries like Australia, Canada, Germany and Israel to the list of high-risk destinations this week, as it pursues a zero-COVID strategy that it hopes will lead to a border opening with mainland China.

Lam said it was too early to give a capacity outlook for the first quarter of 2022.

He said that he hopes that the Chinese mainland government and Hong Kong government will consider opening up the possibility of international travel sometime in the year 2022.

John Grant, chief analyst at travel firm OAG, said that the financial centre was unlikely to recover its status as a major transit hub because of Hong Kong's growing alignment with the Chinese mainland border policy.