Hong Kong is “falling behind” as the rest of the world reopens from the pandemic, Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. chairman Patrick Healy said.

“As aviation hubs across the world begin to bring back capacity and stage a recovery, Hong Kong is obviously falling behind to a certain extent,” Healy said at the airline’s annual general meeting Wednesday.

The city is starting to ease travel curbs, flight bans and lengthy quarantine stays that largely closed it to the rest of the world for more than two years, sparking frustration among businesses and the general public. Cathay has been operating at below 2% of passenger capacity through March, and Healy said there has been a “material impact” on profitability in the first months of 2022.

Responding to International Air Transport Association chief Willie Walsh’s comments last month that Hong Kong had ceased to function as an international aviation hub, Healy didn’t dispute them, but said it was Cathay’s job to “prove him wrong by staging a recovery to the best of our ability”.

The annual general meeting marked the first in-person public event attended by senior Cathay executives since the pandemic started. Healy and Chief Executive Officer Augustus Tang fronted the event, flanked by senior directors Ronald Lam -- who is being groomed to succeed Tang -- operations chief Greg Hughes and finance head Rebecca Sharpe. Swire Pacific Ltd. Chairman Guy Bradley also attended the meeting.

Source:
courtesy of BLOOMBERG

by Danny Lee

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