Staff wait for passengers at the Cathay Pacific check-in counters at the Hong Kong International Airport on Nov 20, 2021. (BERTHA WANG / AFP)
Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd expects a lower first-half loss than last year, driven by strong cargo performance and cost-cutting, the airline said on Tuesday, but warned that this year's loss would still be "substantial".
Last year's first-half loss was HK$7.57 billion ($964.34 million).
Cathay would increase passenger capacity over the coming months as much as practicable within the confines of curbs as demand continues to improve, said Ronald Lam, chief customer and commercial officer of Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd
The airline said it had added capacity in the second quarter after Hong Kong eased some crew quarantine requirements but its May capacity figures had still amounted to just about 4 percent of the passengers and 34 percent of the cargo it carried before the pandemic.
"Our consolidated losses in the first half of 2022, while substantial, are expected to be lower than … in the first half of 2021," said Ronald Lam, the airline's chief customer and commercial officer.
Cathay would increase passenger capacity over the coming months as much as practicable within the confines of curbs as demand continues to improve, he added in a statement.
"Cathay Pacific started the year operating flights to 29 destinations and we target to double that by the end of the year," Lam said.
In May, Cathay's passenger numbers were 98 percent below 2019 levels.
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