Cathay Pacific needs to woo China leisure travellers, analysts say

Singapore

IT is time for Cathay Pacific chief executive officer Rupert Hogg to go to the back of the plane. With the company expected to announce another loss this week, Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd needs to shift strategy from being the region's top airline for premium fliers and make a bigger effort to woo some of the millions of mainland leisure travellers who have enriched its state-owned rivals in China, analysts said.

On Wednesday,Mr Hogg may report a loss of HK$1.2 billion (S$209 million) for the six months till June, the median in a Bloomberg survey of three analysts showed. That would potentially put Cathay Pacific on course for the first back-to-back annual losses in its 70-year history. The Hong Kong company last month warned of a "disappointing" first half.