Coronavirus: Cathay Pacific chairman admits Hong Kong ‘falling behind’ as rest of world opens up to travel
- Cathay Pacific also says it expects cash burn would fall below HK$500 million ‘for the next few months’ due to recent relaxation of quarantine restrictions
- Airline chairman Patrick Healy says carrier yet to lose coveted airport runway slots overseas, but risk increases if company’s level of activity continues to remain low
Cathay Pacific’s chairman has warned that Hong Kong is “falling behind” as the rest of the world opens up to travel following the decline of the Covid-19 pandemic, but said the recent relaxation of quarantine restrictions would help the airline reduce its cash burn rate.
The airline on Wednesday said it expected its cash burn would fall below HK$500 million (US$64 million) “for the next few months,” down from the HK$1 billion to HK$1.5 billion it has been burning monthly since February.
Earlier in the day, airline chairman Patrick Healy told shareholders at the company’s annual general meeting that while the city’s strictest period of quarantine requirements for Hong Kong flight crew had impacted the airline’s profitability in the first few months of this year, the recent relaxation of anti-epidemic measures from May 1 would allow Cathay to increase its cargo capacity in the coming months.
But he warned that Hong Kong risked losing ground to other aviation hubs which were already opening up to travel.
“As aviation hubs across the world begin to bring back capacity and stage a recovery, Hong Kong is obviously falling behind to a certain extent,” Healy said at the meeting, a recording of which was obtained by the Post.
In April, Cathay operated at about 2 per cent of its pre-pandemic passenger capacity, while its cargo capacity stood at 29 per cent of pre-pandemic levels.