Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific is trying to boost cargo capacity after posting a narrower annual loss

Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific Airways is trying to boost cargo capacity as much as possible despite tough quarantine rules for crew, it said on Wednesday Mar. 9, after posting a narrower annual loss of HK$5.5 billion (US$703.45 million).

Cathay Pacific managed a profit of about HK$2 billion in the second half, thanks to cost cuts and strong cargo demand and pricing, even though it flew 85 per cent fewer passengers than in 2020 when it was also affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
The loss was slightly less steep than Cathay’s January forecast of HK$5.6 billion to HK$6.1 billion and a big improvement from a loss of HK$21.65 billion the prior year.

However, Chairman Patrick Healy said in a statement that the airline, which relied on cargo for 79 per cent of its revenue in 2021, has had an “extremely challenging” start to 2022.

Hong Kong has tightened crew quarantine requirements and banned passenger flights from major markets like the United States, Britain and Australia as part of an effort to contain COVID-19 cases.

Since January, the airline has been operating just 2 per cent of its pre-pandemic passenger capacity and less than a third of its pre-pandemic cargo capacity due to those constraints.

“We are trying our best to maintain our passenger and cargo networks as far as possible and will try to increase our cargo capacity as much as practicable,” Healy said.