Cathay Pacific forecasts reduced monthly cash burn in H2

Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific Airways expects to reduce its cash burn to less than HK$1b ($128.84m) a month in the second half of the year, its CFO said. The airline had been burning up to HK$1.9b of cash per month in the first half due to crew quarantine restrictions but that will fall in the second half as rules are eased for vaccinated crew and capacity rises, CFO Rebecca Sharpe said at an analyst briefing on Friday. A webcast of the invitation-only briefing was made public on Saturday evening. Cathay has been operating just 8% of its usual passenger capacity at a time when passenger numbers are down more than 99% due to international border restrictions. "There has been no significant change in the last few months in the dramatic impact COVID-19 has had on passengers to Hong Kong," Sharpe said. By August, it hopes to increase capacity to 20% of pre-COVID levels as Chinese students return to the United States and Britain for studies and that could rise to 30% in Q4 as travel restrictions to Singapore and mainland China ease, Cathay Chief Customer and Commercial Officer Ronald Lam said. Cathay this month said losses in the first half are expected to be "somewhat" lower than last year, due to cost-saving measures and strong demand for cargo flights. read more The monthly cash burn figure at Cathay is a bit higher than the S$100m ($74.51m) to S$150m ongoing level reported by rival Singapore Airlines last month.<br/>