FILE PHOTO: Cathay Pacific Group Chairman John Slosar attends a news conference on the carrier’s annual results in Hong Kong, China March 14, 2018. REUTERS/Bobby Yip/File Photo
September 4, 2019
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific Airways <0293.HK> said on Wednesday that its Chairman John Slosar had resigned from the board and will be replaced by Patrick Healy, a long-time executive at the airline’s top shareholder Swire Pacific Ltd <0019.HK>.
The resignation of Slosar, 63, follows the departure of CEO Rupert Hogg last month, after the Chinese aviation regulator increased scrutiny on the airline and its staff members following anti-government protests in Hong Kong.
Hogg was replaced by Augustus Tang, who had previously headed Swire’s aircraft maintenance company.
The departure of Slosar, a former Cathay CEO, and the appointment of Healy will take effect at Cathay’s annual meeting on Nov. 6, the carrier said in a statement.
In a filing to the stock exchange, Cathay said Slosar “confirmed that his resignation is due to his retirement and that he is not aware of any disagreement with the Board of the Company.”
The airline has become the biggest corporate casualty of the protests after China demanded it suspend staff involved in, or who support, the demonstrations that have plunged the former British colony into a political crisis.
Cathay last month said forward bookings had declined sharply as a result of the unrest.
“Despite current challenges, I am confident in the future of Hong Kong and Cathay Pacific will remain fully committed to this great city as Asia’s key aviation hub,” Healy, 53, said in a statement.
(Reporting by Jamie Freed; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)
