Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific Airways reports US$977 million loss in first half of 2021

Cathay Pacific Airways has reported a HK$7.6 billion (US$977 million) loss in the first half of 2021. The city’s flagship airline said on August 11, 2021, that it continued to be disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic, as virus variants further hold back its core business – passenger travel. Cathay has been cutting costs since it posted a record HK9.87 billion loss in the first half of 2020, but its group chairman Patrick Healy said the pandemic  “continues to be the toughest period in our history.” The airline’s passenger planes flew at only 18.9 per cent capacity during the January-June period.