Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific posts loss of HK$6.5 billion for 2022, but vows to start repaying HK$1.5 billion in deferred dividends to government
- Cathay CEO Ronald Lam says group hopes to make profit this year, but it is ‘too early to say’
- Airline expected to reach 70 per cent of pre-Covid passenger capacity by this year’s end, with hopes for full-service restoration by close of 2024
Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific Airways on Wednesday posted a bigger loss of HK$6.5 billion (US$828 million) for 2022, 18.5 per cent higher than the year before, but vowed to start repaying HK$1.5 billion in deferred share dividends it owed the government in 2023.
The shortfall marked a continued decline for the city’s flagship carrier after it sustained losses of HK$5.5 billion in 2021.
But the company’s core airline operations rebounded to a HK$2.26 billion profit during the last six months of 2022, as Hong Kong began easing Covid-related travel curbs, compared with losses over the same period a year earlier.
Cathay CEO Ronald Lam Siu-por told a media briefing the airline group would start to repay the government HK$1.5 billion in accumulated dividends within the year owed on HK$19.5 billion in preference shares – equity with restricted voting rights.
Authorities acquired the shares as part of a financial lifeline extended to the company in 2020. The carrier has deferred the payment five times since 2021.
The HK$39 billion recapitalisation package ensured the carrier could continue operating as the Covid-19 pandemic collapsed the travel market.
“Our intention is [to pay] within this year, starting to repay the outstanding dividend, and the next milestone will be August,” Lam said, referring to the month the next dividend payment was due.
