Cathay Pacific threatens to fire staff who support Hong Kong protests

Hong Kong's flagship airline Cathay Pacific threatened to fire staff members who participate in "illegal" demonstrations in the city, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Why it matters: The move seems designed to placate Beijing, which has required that any employees involved in the protests be removed from flights to the Chinese mainland. A fifth of the airline's flights are routed through China, meaning that a government crackdown could significantly hamper its operations.

• The announcement comes on the same day that protestors occupied Hong Kong's airport — one of the busiest in the world — and caused it to cancel all of its flights on Monday evening. That marked the biggest disruption to the city's economy since pro-democracy protests began 11 weeks ago.
• Cathay Pacific's shares plunged almost 5% on the news of its announcement.

Go deeper: Hong Kong cancels Monday flights after protestors stormed terminal