Hong Kong Airlines says it has acquired enough cash to pay its staff as it battles to keep its licence to fly
- The airline was on Monday given five days to find new capital to keep the business afloat
- It declined to say where the money came from
“Following urgent consultations, an initial cash injection plan has been drawn up. Outstanding salary to staff will be paid on 5 December 2019 and our services will gradually resume to normal as soon as the funds arrive,” said Hou in a letter to staff.
Hong Kong’s third largest airline was on Monday given five days to find substantial – and unspecified – amounts of new capital to keep the business afloat, as its cash in hand fell to a level that put its licence in jeopardy, said the Air Transport Licencing Authority (ATLA).
The body had earlier delivered an ultimatum to the airline to find new cash or investors before Saturday, or face its licence being suspended or even terminated.
Hou acknowledged the new licencing conditions by the Hong Kong authorities and stressed that shareholders and management “attach great importance to this matter”, implying that it was still working on finding the substantive cash.