Fall in ticket sales for coming months overshadows Cathay Pacific’s return to profit as Hong Kong protests begin to have effect on business
- Medium-term bookings down but airline’s chairman John Slosar confident performance can continue to improve for rest of year
- Drop in sales mainly from economy class travellers but is still putting pressure on ticket prices
Cathay Pacific Airways said it had suffered a double-digit fall in ticket sales for travel to Hong Kong over the next few months, due to the social unrest in Hong Kong, which has also hurt outbound travel.
There is mounting evidence the city’s nine-week protests are having an economic cost for companies and the impact of the unrest on Hong Kong’s largest airline overshadowed its return to profit in the first half of 2019 to the tune of HK$1.35 billion (US$172.23 million), which exceeded the top expectations of analysts.
The fall in bookings is a direct signal that travellers are less keen to visit Hong Kong in the near term, and that economic damage could spread to other business sectors.
Yet, Cathay Pacific’s chairman John Slosar said the drop on the same period last year was not yet wholly a cause for concern – and he was still expecting a recovery.
“People tend to take a wait-and-see approach,” Slosar said. “The fact that forward bookings are down doesn’t mean the bookings are gone. They are not booking as far out as they were before.”
