Cathay chief John Slosar optimistic after 2012 first-half loss of HK$935m
Airline sees signs of improvement after first-half losses of HK$935 million
Cathay Pacific chief executive John Slosar is optimistic that the airline's business performance next year will be better than a "challenging" 2012.
He made the remark as the airline recorded a HK$935 million loss for the first half of this year, dragged down by the sluggish cargo business and falling ticket prices.
In an interview yesterday, Slosar said that although cargo volumes had started to rise recently, this did not mean the business was fixed.
"Cargo had a really weak year. In the last few weeks, finally we started to see growth. But really for almost 18 months consecutively before that, every month was negative growth year-on-year," he said.
"In every industry you get some upturns. We have started to see some upturns. That's a good thing. [But] that does not mean the business is fixed."
Figures released last week showed that Cathay and subsidiary Dragonair carried 140,824 tonnes of cargo and mail last month, an increase of 6.3 per cent over November last year.