Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific Airways expects to reduce its cash burn to less than HK$1 billion ($128.84 million) a month in the second half of the year, its chief financial officer said.

The airline had been burning up to HK$1.9 billion of cash per month in the first half due to crew quarantine restrictions but that will fall in the second half as rules are eased for vaccinated crew and capacity rises, Chief Financial Officer Rebecca Sharpe said at an analyst briefing on Friday.

A webcast of the invitation-only briefing was made public on Saturday evening.

Cathay has been operating just 8 percent of its usual passenger capacity at a time when passenger numbers are down more than 99 percent due to international border restrictions.

"There has been no significant change in the last few months in the dramatic impact COVID-19 has had on passengers to Hong Kong," Sharpe said.

By August, it hopes to increase capacity to 20 percent of pre-COVID levels as Chinese students return to the United States and Britain for studies and that could rise to 30 percent in the fourth quarter as travel restrictions to Singapore and the Chinese mainland ease, Cathay Chief Customer and Commercial Officer Ronald Lam said.

Cathay this month said losses in the first half are expected to be "somewhat" lower than last year, due to cost-saving measures and strong demand for cargo flights.

Cathay said 89 of the 239 planes in its fleet were in long-term storage in Australia and Spain. The airline has HK$32.8 billion liquidity available and will consider raising more funds when it can be done at a reasonable cost, Sharpe said.