Cathay Pacific cut annual losses to HK$5.5 billion ($703.45 million) despite flying 85% fewer passengers than Covid-hit 2020.
The Hong Kong airline achieved a profit of about HK$2 billion in the second half of last year due to cost cuts and strong cargo demand and pricing,
The carrier is trying to boost cargo capacity despite tough quarantine rules for crew and tight Hong Kong travel restrictions.
The 2021 loss was slightly less than Cathay’s January projection of HK$5.6 billion to HK$6.1 billion and an improvement from a record loss of HK$21.65 billion the prior year.
However, chairman Patrick Healy said that the airline, which relied on cargo for 79% of its revenue in 2021, has had an “extremely challenging” start to 2022.
Hong Kong has tightened crew quarantine requirements and banned passenger flights from major markets like the US, UK and Australia as part of an effort to contain cases of Covid-19.
The airline has been operating just 2% of its pre-pandemic passenger capacity since January and less than a third of its pre-pandemic cargo capacity due to the constraints.
“We are trying our best to maintain our passenger and cargo networks as far as possible and will try to increase our cargo capacity as much as practicable,” Healy said.
Cathay said it had HK$30.3 billion of liquidity at the end of 2021.
The airline previously forecast it would burn through HK$1 billion to HK$1.5 billion of cash a month starting in February due to capacity cuts related to crew quarantine rules.