Cathay Pacific chairman says global airlines facing consolidation pressure

Economic headwinds are about to usher in a wave of airline industry consolidation globally, said John Slosar, chairman of Cathay Pacific Airways. Slosar said Wednesday that industry consolidation, the emergence of Chinese airlines as international brands, and investment into data analytics are among the ongoing trends in the industry. His remarks comes as a pending stake sell by Air NZ in Virgin Australia has attracted a slew of Chinese suitors including Hainan Airlines, China Southern Airlines as well as Cathay. Slosar said traffic is far less concentrated around Asia’s big airlines than it is for their US counterparts, after repeated mergers and restructurings helped to transform the formerly loss-making US airline sector into one with healthy profits. <br/>