Preserving cash and cutting spending were its biggest priorities, the carrier said, as it reported a 90 per cent year-on-year drop in passenger volume for March.

Hong Kong’s flagship airline group said it saw the economic impact of the global pandemic intensifying, making a recovery timeline “impossible to predict”, with no improvement in pre-booked travel trends.

Cathay warned it expected its average daily passenger numbers to remain below 1,000 throughout April, with the airline carrying just 302 customers in a day earlier this week.

Cathay Pacific said it carried just 311,128 passengers in March, down from 4.32 million in the same month last year. (Photo: Winson Wong)

“We are exploring all options to ensure that the Cathay Pacific Group rides out this current storm, and is able to compete vigorously and to help Hong Kong recover when we emerge from this crisis,” Ronald Lam Siu-por, the airline’s chief customer and commercial officer, said in a statement.

Among the possible options the airline may consider, is asking shareholders, Swire Pacific and Air China, for financial support. The pair own 45 per cent and 29.99 per cent respectively. Qatar Airways has a 9.94 per cent stake.

When asked a few weeks ago about the possibility of the airline issuing new shares, bonds or other financial instruments – or if it required a loan – Swire Pacific director of public affairs James Tong Wai-pong said: “Swire Pacific remains a committed long term shareholder in Cathay Pacific. We continue to have confidence in its business and long term prospects.”

In March, the airline slashed its flight schedules by two-thirds, triggered by the collapse in global travel. For its business, demand fell 84.3 per cent, outstripping its 73.2 per cent cut in capacity, amid the backdrop of the worsening global pandemic. Cathay will operate just 3 per cent of its planned flight schedule in April.

The airline carried 311,128 passengers last month, down from 4.32 million in the same month last year. In the first three months of 2020, the airline carried 52 per cent fewer customers across the comparable period in 2019.

Of the remaining flights the airline did operate, it managed to fly them on average half full.

As the fifth largest air cargo carrier in the world, Cathay carried 119,000 tonnes of cargo, or 35.6 per cent less, because of the grounding of passenger planes. It operated 257 pairs of cargo-only passenger flights to fulfil the huge demand for air freight.

Cre: South China Morning Post

Nguyen Xuan Nghia – COMM