Cathay Pacific has asked staff to take three weeks of unpaid leave to help it cope with the impact of the coronavirus.

The Hong Kong flag-carrier has offered a voluntary special leave scheme to all employees.

It will run from March 1st until the end of June.

All employees will have the option to take three weeks of unpaid leave in this period.

The airline said the move would preserve cash and was “key to protecting” its business.

Earlier this week, Cathay announced it had cut services to mainland China.

The carrier had already been hit by the effect on passenger demand of several months of anti-government protests in Hong Kong.

In a statement, the airline said: “In view of the novel coronavirus outbreak and also significant drop in market demand, we just announced massive capacity cuts.

“Preserving cash is the key to protecting our business.

“We have already been taking multiple measures to achieve this.”