Cathay Pacific says quarantine will cost HK$400m a month

Cathay Pacific Airways (0293) said the new social distancing measures that require two-week quarantine for pilots and cabin crew will increase its cash burn by about HK$300-HKS$400 million per month on top of current HK$1-HK$1.5 billion levels.

The measure may result in a reduction of the current passenger capacity of around 60 percent and a reduction of the current cargo capacity of around 25 percent, the airline said.

Cathay Pacific carried 39,989 passengers last month, a drop of 98.7 percent year-on-year. The month’s revenue passenger kilometers (RPKs) fell 98.1 percent year-on-year. Passenger load factor dropped by 66.6 percentage points to 18.4 percent, while capacity, measured in available seat kilometers (ASKs), decreased by 91.2 percent.

In 2020, the number of passengers carried by Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon dropped by 86.9 percent against a 78.8 percent drop in capacity and an 85.1 percent decrease in RPKs from a year ago.

The airline carried 120,218 tons of cargo and mail in December, a drop of 32.3 percent. The month’s revenue freight tonne kilometers (RFTKs) fell 23.7 percent year-on-year. The cargo and mail load factor increased by 13.9 percentage points to 80.3 percent, while capacity, measured in available freight tonne kilometers (AFTKs), was down by 36.9 percent.

For 2020 as a whole, the tonnage carried by Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon fell by 34.1 percent against a 35.5 percent drop in capacity and a 26.5 percent fall in RFTKs, as compared to 2019.