Cathay Pacific Airways chairman is appointed

CATHAY Pacific Airways appointed Patrick Healy chairman of the board and executive director to succeed John Robert Slosar, who resigned on Wednesday.

Slosar, 63, said in the statement that his resignation is due to his retirement. He is the third Cathay Pacific executive to resign since mass protests against the city’s proposed extraditionlaw amendment bill began.

Healy, 53, now serves as a director of John Swire & Sons (HK) Ltd and Swire Properties Ltd and executive director of the Beverages Division of Swire Pacific Ltd. His appointment and election will take effect at the board meeting on November 6.

The months-long protests and violent clashes have rattled Cathay Pacific as CEO Rupert Hogg and chief customer and commercial officer Paul Loo kar-pui resigned from the airline on August 16, a week after receiving a major aviation safety-risk warning from the Civil Aviation Administration of China.

Augustus Tang Kin-wing is the new chief executive officer, and Ronald Lam Siu-por, who headed Cathay Pacific’s lowcost arm, Hong Kong Express, became the chief customer and commercial officer.

In addition, two Cathay Pacific pilots have been terminated after one was charged with rioting and another was accused of misusing company information related to protests in August.

Two of the airline’s ground employees also were sacked after they leaked passenger information about the Hong Kong Police Force’s football team.

In the first half of this year, Cathay Pacific recorded total revenue of HK$53.55 million (US$6.83 million), a 0.9 per cent increase due to a growth in the number of passengers. The figure represented growth of 4.4 per cent, which brought the company’s passenger services revenue to HK$37.45 billion, up 5.6 per cent.

The carrier said the protests and escalating Sino-US trade tensions loomed over the outlook of the group.

On Thursday, Cathay Pacific’s share price dipped 3.55 per cent to close at HK$10.32.