Hong Kong (AFP) – Hong Kong carrier Cathay Pacific said on Wednesday it would place a US$8.1 billion order for 14 Boeing jets, its first with the US aircraft maker for more than a decade. The airline said in a filing to the city’s stock exchange it would “purchase 14 Boeing 777-9 aircraft” and had “secured the right to acquire up to seven additional Boeing 777-9 aircraft”. The new order expects the aircraft to be delivered by 2034, according to a separate filing.
Cathay was one of the first buyers to commit to Boeing’s 777X programme when it unveiled the purchase of 21 aircraft in 2013. Boeing said in a statement the new deal brought the order book of 777-9 aircraft — “the world’s largest twin-engine airplane” — to 35. The jets, designed to reduce fuel use and emissions, would meet Cathay’s growing global travel demand, it said.
“Boeing certainly had a troubled period in the recent past, but we are very encouraged by the renewed focus that Boeing leadership has on engineering and production quality,” Cathay’s operations and service delivery officer Alex McGowan told a news conference. Cathay already has a fleet of more than 230 mostly passenger aircraft, consisting of Boeing and Airbus jets. It has agreed to buy more than 100 new aircraft, it said on Wednesday, adding that the new order has brought Cathay’s total investment to $12.7 billion (HK$100 billion).
– Stock price slips –
Hong Kong’s aviation sector was hit hard by Covid-era policies, which imposed strict rules on travellers that kept it internationally isolated before they were lifted in late 2022. Cathay’s attributable profit in 2024 rose slightly to $1.27 billion and it announced this year that its flights were finally back to pre-pandemic levels. The firm reported on Wednesday that its attributable profit in the first six months of 2025 rose slightly to $465 million (HK$3.65 billion) in the first six months of 2025, benefiting from a pick-up in travel demand in Asia. Total revenue in that period increased 9.5 percent to $6.92 billion. The company also declared an interim dividend of 20 Hong Kong cents per share.
Chairman Patrick Healy welcomed a “solid financial performance” in the filing. “Our first-half result was driven by higher passenger volumes albeit with lower yields, a consistent cargo performance, and lower fuel price compared with the same period in 2024,” Healy said. The company’s passenger airlines, including Cathay Pacific and Hong Kong Express, have launched or announced 19 new destinations in 2025, with “more to come,” he said, adding that they now fly to more than 100 passenger destinations.
The airline said this month it had resumed direct flights to Brussels after a long break caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Cathay carried a total of 13.6 million passengers in the first half of this year — an average of 75,300 per day, and up 28 percent from the same period last year. But the firm also saw a drop of 0.6 percent in profit margin for the first half of the year. Cathay’s passenger yields — a measure of value generated by passengers — fell by 12.3 percent, with its low-cost airline HK Express recording a 21.6 percent drop.
Wednesday’s results were also dragged down by rising costs, while Healy warned in the filing that HK Express was facing short-term challenges as a pick-up in bookings was “yet to return to normal levels”. He said the firm was “not immune to the various challenges” in the industry. Cathay’s shares in Hong Kong closed down more than 9.6 percent to HK$10.85 on Wednesday.
© 2024 AFP
