Cathay jumps 3% as Air China mulls stake hike

Cathay Pacific Airways rose 3% yesterday on a report that Air China might increase its stake in Hong Kong's flagship carrier. Cathay responded that it would not comment on the report. Last week, Bloomberg reported that Air China has been sounding out advisers in recent months on the possible merits of raising its nearly 30% stake in Cathay, citing people familiar with the matter. While it has flirted with the possibility in the past, including before Covid, state-run Air China's need to boost profitability has added fresh momentum, some of the people said, though nothing is likely to happen imminently. Meanwhile, Cathay Pacific is expected to have over 3,000 pilots by the year end and the company is "not short of pilots at all to operate" with its current nearly 2,600 pilots, said its director of flight operations Chris Kempis. Kempis was speaking after the Hong Kong Aircrew Officers Association's statement issued yesterday which said that the airline is facing a shortfall of 1,300 pilots compared to 2019, and three more years are needed to restore its capacity to pre-pandemic level. Kempis said the airline has sufficient pilots to meet the size of its network as it has been restructured, which included shutting down all overseas pilot bases in 2021. "We've achieved 70% of our capacity by the end of last year," he added. "By the second quarter of this year, we will achieve 80%."<br/>