Hong Kong-based flag carrier Cathay Pacific is expecting a bigger loss during the second half of the year than in the first half of the year. During the first six months of 2020, the carrier reported losses of $1.27 billion.
It is reported that Cathay Pacific flew a total of 37,815 passengers in November, which is a reduction of 98.6 percent compared to the same period in 2019. Moreover, the month’s revenue passenger kilometre fell 97.9 percent year-on-year.
Cathay Pacific chief customer and commercial officer Ronald Lam told the media, “Demand continues to weaken on long-haul routes and we anticipate we will rely more on traffic on regional services in the immediate future. Given the slow speed of recovery, we expect to operate about 9 percent of pre-Covid-19 capacity in December and slightly above 10 percent in January 2021.
“The December capacity results in the average capacity for the second half of 2020 being 8.4 percent of pre-Covid-19 level, compared to the average capacity of 34.3 percent in the first half. This, together with the additional restructuring and impairment costs announced in October, and further aircraft impairment at year-end, is expected to result in the second-half losses being significantly higher than the first-half losses reported in our interim accounts.”
The global aviation industry has been on the receiving end of the coronavirus pandemic, which has forced most carriers to ground their fleet for almost three months. In early October, Cathay Pacific cut 5,900 jobs to cope with the repercussions of the pandemic.