Cathay Pacific loses money, flags 'very bleak' outlook
Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific Airways posted a loss of more than half a billion dollars (HK$4.5 billion, $580.53 million USD) from January to April at its full-service airlines.
On Thursday (May 15), Cathay also said passenger numbers in April took a staggering plunge -- down 99.6% compared with last year.
Over that time they've been flying a skeleton network to comply with a ban on transit traffic in Hong Kong and with little demand to fly out of the city.
Cathay's CEO Ronald Lam said the airline still sees quote "no immediate signs of improvement," calling its outlook 'very bleak'.
In a statement, he said said that they were evaluating all aspects of their business to plan for how to emerge from the crisis.
Cathay last month laid off nearly 300 cabin crew based in the United States and put over 200 pilots based in Australia and Britain on leave.
It's all a stark contrast to the first half of last year when Cathay saw profit of more than $600 million Hong Kong dollars.
Other airlines including rival Singapore Airlines also reported its first-ever loss, citing poor fuel hedging and collapse in demand.
