If you want to believe the analysts and business publications CX has now the most leveraged balance sheet of any major airline in the world. More debt = being less competitive as the debt has to be serviced with interest payments which CX's competitors do not have or have on a much smaller scale. Cash flow might be a problem in the future without outside cash injections.
Everyone who thinks this is a Swire plot and Cathay is doing fine should get their head checked. Cathay has lost so much cash in the recent years that it will take over a decade in profits earning these losses back and bringing balance sheet debt to a normal level.
I believe CX will be a much smaller airline in the coming years, shrinking airplane by airplane or as some analysts believe will be experiencing a take-over from mainland China. Might it be Air China or someone else, as analysts find it very suspect that a mainland Chinese billionaire is suddenly buying every available CX share on the stock exchange. As soon as Air China and the Billionaire have the majority of shares or enough votes with convincing the other minority shareholders to vote in their favour it will be bye bye Swire.