Cathay Pacific says it faces 'substantial loss' due to virus
HONG KONG (AP) - Cathay Pacific Airways, one of Hong Kong's most prominent businesses, warned Wednesday it faces a 'œsubstantial loss'ť in the first half of this year due to the coronavirus outbreak after last year's profit fell amid anti-government protests.
The Chinese territory's main airline canceled 90% of its flight capacity to the mainland at the start of February after Beijing told the public to avoid travel as part of efforts to contain the outbreak centered on the city of Wuhan.
'œWe expect to incur a substantial loss for the first half of 2020,'ť chairman Patrick Healy said in a statement. 'œWe expect our passenger business to be under severe pressure this year and that our cargo business will continue to face headwinds.'ť
2019 profit fell 27.9% from the previous year to 1.7 billion Hong Kong dollars ($218 million), the airline reported. Revenue declined 3.7% to 107 billion Hong Kong dollars ($13.8 billion).
2020 was expected to be 'œextremely challenging financially'ť after tourist arrivals in Hong Kong fell amid protests that began in June over a proposed extradition law and expanded to include other grievances, said Healy.
That was worsened by the 'œsignificant negative impact'ť of the virus, Healy said.
Its cargo business also was hurt by a U.S.-Chinese tariff war that depressed trade.
The airline has asked its 27,000 employees to take three weeks of unpaid leave between March 1 and June 30.