Coronavirus: Cathay Pacific says worst of financial crisis behind it as war chest grows to HK$32.8 billion

Hong Kong’s flagship carrier forecasts it will burn less than HK$1 billion a month from July until the end of this year

Airline reveals its cash war chest has grown by almost two-thirds since the start of the pandemic to an unaudited HK$32.8 billion

Reading Time:3 minutes

Cathay Pacific says it is reactivating passenger flights and services ‘carefully’. Photo: Winson Wong

Published: 10:47pm, 26 Jun 2021Updated: 11:20pm, 26 Jun 2021

Cathay Pacific has put the worst of its financial crisis behind it and now has more cash than ever before to ride out the Covid-19 fallout, as company executives revealed it would burn through the least amount of money since the pandemic began.

Hong Kong’s flagship carrier forecast it would burn less than HK$1 billion (US$128 million) a month from July until the end of this year, the airline told analysts on Friday.

Aggressive cost-cutting, strict spending discipline and an ongoing restructuring including axing more jobs were credited with preserving a healthier cash balance.

“We currently do have a very healthy liquidity balance,” chief financial officer Rebecca Sharpe said. “Our costs continue to be tightly controlled. Discretionary spend remains on hold.”

The airline also revealed it had grown its cash war chest by almost two-thirds since the start of the pandemic to an unaudited HK$32.8 billion at the end of May to weather the travel downturn.

Select Voice

Choose your listening speed

Get through articles 2x faster

1.25x

250 WPM

Slow

Average

Fast

00:0000:00

1.25x