A Cathay Pacific passenger jet takes off in Hong Kong on Oct 22, 2018. (ANTHONY WALLACE / AFP)

Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd, among the most high-profile corporate casualties of the social unrest in Hong Kong, is turning into one of the most impacted airlines from the novel coronavirus outbreak.

First-half financial results will be “significantly down” from a year earlier, Cathay Chief Customer and Commercial Officer Ronald Lam said in a statement. The airline and Cathay Dragon carried 3.8 percent fewer passengers in January, with the drop only likely to deepen as they cut 90 percent of capacity to the Chinese mainland.

Our performance deteriorated rapidly in the last week of January as the novel coronavirus situation became more severe, and it continues to weaken significantly.

Ronald Lam, Chief customer and commercial officer, Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd

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Cathay is particularly exposed to the virus because sales from Hong Kong and the mainland account for about half of its total revenue. The company is bracing for what Chief Executive Officer Augustus Tang described as a “very significant impact” the virus will have on travel. 

Lam said that the year had started “fairly positively” with “satisfactory” passenger traffic volume through the first three weeks. Then the virus hit.

 “Our performance deteriorated rapidly in the last week of January as the novel coronavirus situation became more severe, and it continues to weaken significantly.”

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Cathay had already warned that profit in the second half of last year would be “significantly” lower than the first because it was badly hit by months of protests stemming from the extradition bill incident in Hong Kong.

Cathay’s woes prompted parent Swire Pacific Ltd to issue its own profit warning, predicting that first-half results will be “materially worse” than a year earlier.