October 21, 2020 / Cathay Pacific Airways (CX) announced today the shut-down with immediate effect of its Cathay Dragon subsidiary and the cutting of 5.900 jobs in an effort to contain the impact of the Covid crisis. the news come a few days after the airline revealed it expects to operate under half of its pre-Covid overall capacity throughout 2021. The job cuts mean that 5.300 Hong Kong-based employees will be made redundant and 600 more will be affected worldwide. Executive pay cuts and no salary increases will continue in 2021.

Adding to that, CX reached a deal with Boeing to defer deliveries of its new B777-9 beyond 2025. As for original schedule, the 21 aircraft had to be received by the carrier in the 2021-2024 interval. The airline’s CEO, Augustus Tang, specified in an official note that “we continue to burn between HK$ 1.5 and HK$2 billion (i.e US$ 190-250 million) cash per month. This is simply unsustainable. The changes announced today will reduce our cash burn by about HK$500 million per month”.