Cathay Pacific’s cash-burn target has been lowered in half as Hong Kong relaxes regulations.
(Reuters) – Cathay Pacific Airways (OTC:CPCAY) Ltd of Hong Kong dramatically reduced its cash-burn goal for the next several months on Wednesday, anticipating that relaxing travel restrictions and quarantine standards for passenger flight crews would increase capacity.
The airline now estimates its cash burn for the next several months to be less than HK$500 million ($63.70 million), down from its earlier prediction of HK$1 billion to HK$1.5 billion each month.
Hong Kong relaxed hotel quarantine for passenger flight crews, freed cargo crews from quarantine, and lifted travel alerts on other nations, reversing the city’s isolation.
The airline transported a total of 40,823 passengers this month, an increase of 82 percent over the previous year but still a drop of nearly 99 percent from its pre-pandemic level in 2019. Its cargo transport in April was up 26 percent from the previous year but down 44 percent from 2019.
“These adjustments to quarantine and medical surveillance standards will allow additional flights and destinations to be reactivated for our travel services,” stated Cathays’ Chief Customer and Commercial Officer Ronald Lam.
Cathay announced that beginning in early June, it will restore or boost passenger flight capacity to a variety of destinations, including the United States, Australia, New Zealand, and India, as well as add long-haul cargo destinations in Europe and the Americas.
(1 dollar = 7.8498 Hong Kong dollars)
