Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. says there is little hope for improvement in its financial performance in the next six months. It lost more than HK$9.87 billion ($1.27 billion) in the first half of the year as a result of the international health crisis, it said. It reported a HK$1.34 billion net profit in the year-ago period.

Cathay Pacific doesn't anticipate a significant rebound in passenger demand in the next few months because of the world health emergency.

The first half of the year was the most perplexing the Hong Kong carrier has witnessed in its more than 70 years of operation, Cathay Pacific chairman Patrick Healy said. It doesn't expect the second half to be any "better than the first."

The pandemic has badly affected the international travel business. It will take many years before the airline industry can bounce back to prepandemic levels, Healy said. Cathay Pacific and its affiliate Cathay Dragon suffered $950 million in losses as well as another $323 million in losses accrued from their shares of associates and subsidiaries.

Cathay Pacific will take longer to recoup losses from the crisis because these companies are located in regions that have no local demand for air travel, Cirium travel industry data and analytics Asia director Joanna Lu said.

Flights within a local or regional hub had more chance of returning fast than long-haul travel, Lu said on CNBC.

Passenger volume should return to about 8 percent in August and September - below an earlier projection of 10 percent, Cathay Pacific chief executive Augustus Tang said.

Cathay Pacific carried 4.5 million passengers in the first half of the year - a 76 percent decline - as the virus crisis broke in mainland China and around the world. It averaged 500 passengers daily at the height of widespread lockdowns between April and May.