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Cathay Pacific
Hong KongHong Kong Economy

Earnings for Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific soar to HK$4.3 billion in first half of 2023, with share buy-back from government on horizon

  • Cathay chairman Patrick Healy says results show airline is ‘on the right track’
  • He says Cathay plans to buy back 50 per cent of preference shares the government acquired as part of recapitalisation package in 2020

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Cathay Pacific’s return to profitability follows losses of HK$33.7 billion over three years during the pandemic. Photo: Jonathan Wong
Laura Westbrook
Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific Airways has reported a net profit of HK$4.26 billion (US$546 million) for the first half of 2023, its first in three years as the city’s flagship carrier moves past the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic in an improving business environment.

The figures released on Wednesday represented a turnaround in performance for the airline and prompted Cathay to announce that it planned to buy back company shares held by the Hong Kong government and purchase up to 32 Airbus aircraft.

“We’ve been cash generative for the whole of 2023 and we’re extremely pleased with the performance year to date. We expect to continue to see a solid performance throughout the rest of the year,” Cathay Pacific Group chairman Patrick Healy said.

Analysts also described the data as “encouraging” for the city’s flag carrier and a far cry from the same period last year, when Cathay racked up HK$4.99 billion in losses as Hong Kong maintained its stringent travel curbs.

Cathay said the net profit included a one-off gain of HK$1.9 billion as a result of a dilution of its interest in Air China shares in the first half of the year, taking its stake in the carrier from 18.13 per cent to 16.26 per cent.

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