Hong Kong airlines receive large cash injections
The Hong Kong government has agreed to bail out its airlines with $236 million HKD ($30.4 million USD) in funding.
The move will consist of the government funding the purchase of around 500,000 flight tickets from Hong Kong’s four carriers – Cathay Pacific, Cathay Dragon, Hong Kong Airlines, and HK Express.
The airlines are also able to utilise the government’s subsidised pay packet scheme costing $137.5 billion HKD ($18 billion USD).
Another one-off subsidy airlines can take advantage of is the payment of $1 million HKD ($129,000 USD) for each large jet and roughly $200,000 HKD ($26,000 USD) for smaller aircraft – as long as the planes are registered in Hong Kong.
Cathay Pacific welcomed the extra cash, with a spokesperson saying: “We welcome the Hong Kong SAR government’s latest announcement of relief measures to help businesses, including airlines, during this challenging time.”
Hong Kong’s leader, Carrie Lam, said she was saddened that passenger traffic had collapsed and acknowledged the “severity of the situation”
“Given the epidemic’s catastrophic impact on Hong Kong’s economy, the Government has to dig deep into its fiscal reserves accumulated over the years to help our businesses and people. With Hong Kong’s fundamental strengths and our people’s resilience, we are confident that our city can ride out this storm and Hong Kong can be relaunched,” she said.
The city’s tourist arrivals plunged 96.4 per cent year-on-year in February to 199,123 visitors.
Secretflying.com