Cathay Pacific cuts profit guidance again

This article is more than 12 months old

Nov 14, 2019 06:00 am

Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific Airways yesterday said the short-term outlook remained "challenging and uncertain" due to pro-democracy protests in its home market as it lowered its profit guidance for the second time in less than a month.

It said passenger numbers fell 7 per cent in October and expected second-half profit to be "significantly below" the first half's HK$1.347 billion (S$234.41 million).

Protesters yesterday paralysed parts of Hong Kong for a third consecutive day, with some transport links, schools and many businesses closing after escalation of violence.

"Overall, we foresee a challenging remainder of 2019 for our airlines," Cathay chief customer and commercial officer Ronald Lam said.

Cathay reduced passenger flight capacity by 2 per cent to 4 per cent versus its original schedule between August and October and made further cuts of 6 per cent to 7 per cent for November and December. The percentage of seats filled dropped by 4 percentage points to 77.6 per cent in October despite the capacity cuts and airfares were under pressure and premium travel demand was sluggish, he said. - REUTERS