Cathay Pacific to cut cash burn as airline relaxes cargo crew quarantine measures

Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific said Friday a relaxation of quarantine requirements for its cargo crew would help to boost air freight capacity and lower its cash burn at a time when it has only a skeleton passenger service. The airline had previously said rules that took effect on Feb 20 and required most crew to quarantine for two weeks in hotels before returning to normal life in Hong Kong would increase cash burn by about HK$300m to HK$400m per month, on top of the regular HK$1b to HK$1.5b levels. "Just this week, the government announced that it would lift the mandatory quarantine requirement for fully vaccinated Hong Kong-based aircrew on freighters and cargo only passenger flights from today," Cathay chief customer and commercial officer Ronald Lam said. "This will have a positive impact on our cargo business while also progressively reducing our monthly operating cash burn." It did not say by how much its cash burn would fall or by how much its freight capacity will rise.<br/>