just reading this thread and i must say the same Taiwanese article appeared in Ming Pao last week in HK too and when i read it i was shocked. something was dead wrong about that 40 day figure. this news story came out just after CX's board decided to cut 2002's final dividend by 50%.

as stated by oneworld fan from CX's financials, "As of the end of April 2003, Cathay Pacific had HK$13,314 billion (US$1.706 billion) in cash reserve and with a cut in final divided, that will increase their cash reserve by another HK$934 (US$119.74 million)." coupled with CX's earlier figure of HK$23.4million loss a day, if you take 934 and divide it by 23.4 you get 39.9. almost identical to the 40 days reported by the Taiwanese news article.

so i believe the 40 day figure equates to "surviving 40 more days" from the cash conserved from the reduction in the 2002 dividend payment.

CX (along with SQ) is in much better shape than most US airlines. they were still profitable after 911 and didn't go into the red until SARS broke out a month ago. look at AA/UA/CO/DL/NW, they've been losing money since 2001 and they're still flying. what makes you think a sudden drop in traffic for about a month will bring down one of Asia's most profitable airlines in... 40 days?!

[This message has been edited by jakob (edited 05-13-2003).]

[This message has been edited by jakob (edited 05-13-2003).]