Cathay Pacific says it expects first annual profit since 2019

CATHAY Pacific Airways said it will make its first annual profit since 2019, cementing its financial rebound from the most damaging period in the Hong Kong airline’s history.

The company expects second-half profit will surpass its results in the first-half, when it posted its biggest half-yearly profit since 2010, it said in a statement on Thursday. That will bring it a consolidated group profit for this year, it said.

The carrier’s recovery has lagged other airlines after Hong Kong and mainland China, the firm’s key market, held on to strict pandemic controls longer than almost anywhere else in the world. But the airline has consistently said its performance would improve as the year progressed and it now predicts passenger traffic will be back to 95 per cent of pre-Covid levels by the end of 2023.

Even as Cathay Pacific said it will continue to work toward fully rebuilding its flights in 2024, it warned of a number of constraints affecting the global aviation industry, including recruitment and training and supply-chain challenges. BLOOMBERG