1998 Loss???
In 1998, CX made an operating profit of $397m on turnover of $26,695 - anemic at best. There was a drive to reduce costs by 20% in all departments. There is nothing that motivates so well in cost cutting than the fear of their company going under.
In order to achieve the 1998 'loss', CX had to write down the value of the 747 classics(and spare parts for them). This writedown was for a total of $837m. Lets be clear, no cash actually left the company for that write down. There were two other actual cashflow exceptional items but the net effect of them was only -$32m.
Now, it is wise accounting practice to 'mark to market' so it would seem that this was a sensible business decision. But the subsequent lease rate that was achieved (from PIA I think) was in excess of 25%. That suggests the lease rate was exorbitantly high or the marked down value grossly underestimated the true value of the aircraft.
Never the less, we got our headline loss!
Its like the old accountant joke....accountant walks in to see a business man. The business man says, "hows my business doing? Is it profitable or making a loss". The accountant replies "how do you want your business to be doing?"