Cathay flags $1.3 billion first-half loss

Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific Airways said Friday it expects a record loss of some 1.3 billion U.S. dollars for the first half of the year.

The airline had earlier flagged a quote "substantial" loss in the first half of the year.

It's burned through up to some $400 million dollars every month since February.

The estimated loss would be Cathay's biggest half-year loss in at least a decade, on the heels of widespread anti-government protests which began last year, followed by the global health crisis.

Last month Cathay received a $5 billion rescue package led by the Hong Kong government and said it planned to operate at just 7% of normal passenger capacity in July, rising to around 10% in August.

Cathay has also accepted government employment subsidies that prevent it from cutting Hong Kong-based staff through August.

They announced this month they would also be reviewing the size of their fleet in light of the fall in global travel demand -- and amid Hong Kong's muggy summer heatweighing whether to send some of its parked aircraft to less humid locations for storage.