Cathay expects ‘significant’ impact to August revenue on protests

Cathay Pacific Airways predicts revenue for August will be affected significantly by this summer’s mass civil protests in Hong Kong, weakening inbound and outbound traffic. The airline said its July traffic figures, released Aug 21, were not hurt much by the protests, but expects that will not be the case for its next monthly report. Cathay chief customer and commercial officer Ronald Lam said that business and leisure traffic into Hong Kong “has weakened substantially” this month. Outbound traffic is also “starting to soften,” particularly on the carrier’s short-haul Asian network. Passenger demand was “strong in the first half of the summer peak,” Lam said. However, yield was “under pressure due to intense competition and increasing transit passenger traffic.” <br/>