Cathay Pacific Airways shares drop as yields face ‘pressure’

Shares in Cathay Pacific Airways slumped after Asia’s biggest international carrier said first-half performance was “below expectations” and yields were under “intense pressure”.

Shares snapped six days of gains after the Hong Kong-based airline said earlier this week that combined passenger load factor for Cathay Pacific and unit Dragonair fell by 1.7 percentage points to 85.5% in the period. While the capacity increased 4.2%, the growth in passenger traffic was 2.7%, it said.

“Passenger revenue has been adversely affected by the reduced load factor and intense pressure on yield,” chief executive Ivan Chu said in the statement issued after trading hours. “Cargo tonnage has stabilised but yield continues to decline,” he said.