Hong Kong's flagship air carrier Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. said Wednesday it is cutting about 8,500 jobs and shuttering a group airline over the lingering coronavirus pandemic.

The planned job cuts include about 5,300 Hong Kong-based positions and roughly 600 others outside the city. Cathay Dragon, a subsidiary airline that mainly flies to mainland Chinese destinations, ceases operation from Wednesday.

"The global pandemic continues to have a devastating impact on aviation and the hard truth is we must fundamentally restructure the group to survive," CEO Augustus Tang said.

The redundancy, which also includes the elimination of 2,600 unfilled positions, accounts for around 24 percent of the group's total workforce. The envisioned cut in the Hong Kong-based jobs will come in the "coming weeks," the group said in a statement.

The restructuring plan is expected to reduce Cathay Pacific's monthly cash losses of HK$1.5 billion ($193.5 million) to HK$2 billion by HK$500 million in 2021.

"We have studied multiple scenarios and have adopted the most responsible approach to retain as many jobs as possible. Even so, it is quite clear now recovery is going to be slow," Tang said.

As of June 30, the company made a net loss of HK$9.87 billion for the first half of this year, compared with HK$1.35 billion in profit a year earlier, according to its financial statement.

==Kyodo

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