HONG KONG - Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. returned to profit in 2009 as cost-cutting measures and bets on fuel prices helped Asia's No. 3 carrier rebound from its biggest loss ever the year before.
Hong Kong's flagship airline reported profit of $4.7 billion Hong Kong dollars ($601 million) in the 12 months ended Dec. 31, the company said in a statement Wednesday.
That compared to a record loss of HK$8.6 billion ($1.1 billion) in 2008 amid plummeting demand for travel and volatile fuel prices that soured the company's hedging contracts.
For all of 2009, revenue declined by nearly 23 per cent to around $HK70 billion (close to $9 billion).
Cathay said there was a pickup in passenger and cargo traffic as the recession abated but demand had yet to bounce back to levels seen before the slump.
Also helping the airline were measures it took to drastically reduce costs and the sale of part of its stake in Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering for $243 million.
Higher fuel prices, meanwhile, helped the company recoup on its hedging bets. Cathay reported a gains of nearly $258 million last year on its hedging contracts.
"While we welcomed the improvement in business in the latter part of 2009, we remain cautious about the prospects for 2010," Cathay's chairman Christopher Pratt said in a statement
Passenger traffic at Cathay and its subsidiary Dragonair was down by 1.6 per cent. Meanwhile, the company brought in about 30 per cent less revenue from cargo traffic, with the amount of freight carried by Cathay and Dragon slipping around 7 per cent.
Cathay shares were up 1.9 per cent in afternoon trade.
Hong Kong's flagship airline reported profit of $4.7 billion Hong Kong dollars ($601 million) in the 12 months ended Dec. 31, the company said in a statement Wednesday.
That compared to a record loss of HK$8.6 billion ($1.1 billion) in 2008 amid plummeting demand for travel and volatile fuel prices that soured the company's hedging contracts.
For all of 2009, revenue declined by nearly 23 per cent to around $HK70 billion (close to $9 billion).
Cathay said there was a pickup in passenger and cargo traffic as the recession abated but demand had yet to bounce back to levels seen before the slump.
Also helping the airline were measures it took to drastically reduce costs and the sale of part of its stake in Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering for $243 million.
Higher fuel prices, meanwhile, helped the company recoup on its hedging bets. Cathay reported a gains of nearly $258 million last year on its hedging contracts.
"While we welcomed the improvement in business in the latter part of 2009, we remain cautious about the prospects for 2010," Cathay's chairman Christopher Pratt said in a statement
Passenger traffic at Cathay and its subsidiary Dragonair was down by 1.6 per cent. Meanwhile, the company brought in about 30 per cent less revenue from cargo traffic, with the amount of freight carried by Cathay and Dragon slipping around 7 per cent.
Cathay shares were up 1.9 per cent in afternoon trade.
