The Hang Seng Indexes Company (HSICO) has announced in its latest quarterly review that it will remove Cathay Pacific (CX, Hong Kong International) from the benchmark Hang Seng Index (HSI) with effect from December 4.

Also known as the Hong Kong Blue Chip Index, the HSI measures the performance of the largest and most valuable companies listed in Hong Kong. Given its exclusivity, the total number of constituents is fixed at fifty.

To qualify for listing, HSICO scrutinizes a firm's market capitalisation and turnover ranking as well as its financial performance among other criteria. As such, even though HSICO has not commented on its decision, it is believed linked to the carrier's ongoing battle to return to long-term profitability following a record 1H loss of HKD2.05 billion (USD262.07 million) announced in August. The company at the time blamed increased competition from mainland Chinese rivals as well as higher jet fuel costs, including losses from fuel hedging.

Cathay Pacific was admitted to the index in June 1986.