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Cathay Pacific Airways said it will buy Boeing jets valued at about US$8 billion as the Hong Kong flag carrier posted a slight increase in first-half profit on higher passenger volumes and lower fuel prices.
The airline on Wednesday reported net profit of 3.65 billion Hong Kong dollars, equivalent to US$465 million, for the first six months of 2025, up 1.1% from a year earlier. It attributed the increase to higher passenger volumes and lower fuel prices, which offset lower yields as more capacity was added to the market.
Revenue for the period rose 9.5% to HK$54.31 billion.
Cathay Pacific’s 293 1.03%increase; green up pointing triangle passenger revenue in the first half climbed 14% to HK$34.21 billion, with its passenger load factor improving to 84.8% from 82.4% a year ago.
The airline said it will purchase 14 Boeing 777-9 aircraft with a basic price of about US$8.1 billion for delivery by 2034, bringing its order book for the plane to 35. Boeing said the order makes Cathay the biggest operator of its 777-9 jets in Asia-Pacific.
Cathay said it has the option to buy an additional seven jets and was granted significant price concessions.
Shares of Cathay Pacific fell after the results, ending 9.7% lower for its biggest one-day percentage loss in more than four years.
Cathay’s share price looks slightly overvalued, and the negative market reaction was likely due to passenger yields falling more than expected, said Lorraine Tan, director of equity research for Asia at Morningstar. The Hong Kong airline’s passenger yield dropped 12.3% in the first six months of the year.
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U.K. antitrust officials said they wouldn’t open an in-depth probe into Boeing’s BA 0.16%increase; green up pointing triangle deal to acquire fuselage maker Spirit AeroSystems SPR 0.37%increase; green up pointing triangle Holdings, effectively clearing the transaction weeks after they launched the first phase of an investigation.
The Competition and Markets Authority started looking at the deal in June to determine whether it could stifle competition in the U.K. Officials have now concluded that isn’t the case and said the transaction didn’t warrant a more in-depth probe.
Boeing agreed to acquire Spirit in July last year in a roughly $4.7 billion deal that included Boeing-related commercial operations as well as commercial, defense and aftermarket operations.
Spirit, which split from Boeing about two decades ago, has been at the center of quality issues affecting 737 MAX jets. Spirit’s factory in Wichita, Kan., made the fuselage involved in last year’s Alaska Airlines door-plug blowout.
Boeing executives have said they believe taking control of Spirit’s operations would improve the safety and quality of its manufacturing.
Clearance from the CMA brings the companies closer to finalizing the transaction. If U.K. antitrust officials had concluded the deal threatened competition, they could have blocked it altogether or imposed so-called remedies on Boeing, meaning the jet maker could have been forced to sell certain assets or make other concessions to earn antitrust approval.
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Boeing intends to sell as many as eighteen 787 Dreamliner jets to Gulf Air. Boeing plans to sell up to 18 of its 787 Dreamliner jets to Gulf Air.
The jet maker said Thursday it has agreed to sell 12 of the jets, with options for six more.
The deal is part of Gulf Air’s aim to further expand its international network across markets in Asia, Europe and the U.S., the Bahrain-based airline said.
Once finalized, the deal will bring Gulf Air’s order book to 14 of the wide-body jets.
The airline currently has 10 of the airplanes in service, which have been key for long-haul flights, it said.
The companies didn’t disclose the terms or price of the deal.
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The parent company of British Airways said it had agreed to buy 32 Boeing 787-10s with General Electric engines, confirming purchases touted alongside the U.S.-U.K. trade deal on Thursday by U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
The deals have a combined sticker price of $12.7 billion but International Consolidated Airlines said it had negotiated a substantial discount, as is standard for large aircraft deals.
The company also said it ordered 21 Airbus A330neo jets valued at $7.9 billion before the customary discounts.
Plus, it converted previously agreed options for 18 other Airbus and Boeing widebody jets.
IAG Chief Executive Luis Gallego said the aircraft deals had been in the works “for a long time,” preceding trade talks between the U.S. and U.K. Still, he welcomed Thursday’s agreement, noting aviation’s decades long status as tariff-exempt. “We don’t need tariffs,” he said.
News of the jet orders came as IAG reported a swing back to profit in the first quarter helped by higher ticket prices and lower fuel costs. But Gallego did say the airline group had seen some softness in demand for economy seats from U.S. consumers. That was contrary to strong demand in Europe, South America, Africa and the Middle East.
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