Cathay Pacific lowers fourth quarter capacity forecast
Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd said yesterday it had lowered its passenger capacity forecast for the remainder of the year to 13 per cent of PRE-COVID levels, down from an earlier 30 per cent target for the fourth quarter as travel restrictions linger.
The airline said it continued to target cash burn of less than HK$1 billion (US$130 million) a month for the rest of the year.
Hong Kong lacks a domestic aviation market and has some of the world's toughest pandemic-related travel restrictions.
The city requires fully vaccinated travellers from destinations considered "highrisk", including the US and Britain, to spend three weeks in hotel quarantine.
Cathay last month said its target of reaching 30 per cent of PRE-COVID passenger capacity in the fourth quarter hinged on quarantine rules for passengers and crew being relaxed.
Passenger numbers in August were better than in previous months because of strong student traffic from mainland China to the US and Britain but were 95.3 per cent below the same month in 2019, the airline said.
Cathay said the cargo market strengthened in August, with freighter demand ramping up to peak season levels.
Air cargo accounted for 80 per cent of the airline's revenue in the first half of the year due to the pandemic-related hit to passenger demand.