Cathay Pacific has reported that it expects to record a consolidated of approximately HK$2.3 billion (US$293 million) for the year ending 31 December 2018 – compared to a loss of HK$1,259 million for the year ending 31 December 2017.
The airline said in a corporate announcement that last year, the passenger business benefited from capacity growth, a focus on customer service and improved revenue management. Load factors were sustained and yield improved despite competitive pressures. The cargo business it said was also strong. Capacity, yield and load factors increased.
Cathay Pacific added: “The Company’s transformation programme has had a positive impact. The Company is still in the process of finalising the Group’s annual results for the year ended 31st December 2018.
“The information contained in this announcement is only based on a preliminary review of the unaudited consolidated management accounts of the Group for the year ended 31st December 2018 which have not been audited or reviewed by the external auditors of the Company.”
Meanwhile, Cathay Pacific has also reported its traffic figures for January this year and said Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon carried a total of 3,127,437 passengers last month, an increase of 7.4 per cent compared to January 2018.
The passenger load factor increased 1.9 percentage points to 86.1 per cent, while capacity, measured in available seat kilometres (ASKs), increased by 7.1 per cent.
Cathay Pacific director commercial and cargo, Ronald Lam said: “Chinese New Year this year was earlier than last, leading to a slight distortion in both passenger and cargo revenue for January and February.
“Passenger revenue performed well with positive year-on-year growth in terms of load factor and yield. The robust Business Class demand of late 2018 continued into January, while we also saw improved volumes in Economy Class, driven by pre-Chinese New Year traffic from Hong Kong and mainland China. Our new route to Tokushima enjoyed a strong start to the month.”
