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Severe travel restrictions as a result of a coronavirus outbreak
in China, which has caused about 1,770 deaths across mainland
China, have led to a steep rise in flight cancellations.
"The first half of 2020 was already expected to be extremely
challenging financially," the company said in a statement.
"As a result of this additional significant drop in demand for
flights and consequential capacity reduction caused by the novel
coronavirus outbreak, the financial results for the first half
of 2020 will be significantly down on the same period last
year."
Flight cancellations have led the number of customers seeking
refunds to skyrocket. The airline has told those affected,
including some air show delegates, that reimbursement could take
up to six weeks.
The carrier, which is the most exposed airline outside mainland
China to a demand crunch related to the coronavirus, also said
in a statement it had cut capacity by 40% for February and
March, against an earlier planned 30% cut.
It also pointed to a likely reduction in April.
Cathay Pacific also posted a 1.3 percentage point decrease in
the passenger load factor of Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon to
84.7% in January.
Meanwhile, Swire Pacific Ltd <0019.HK>, Cathay's largest
shareholder, said it expects a hit to its first-half results
owing to the capacity reductions by Cathay.
(Reporting by Shreya Mariam Job in Bengaluru; Editing by David
Evans and Jan Harvey)
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