A Hellish Week for Cathay Buffeted Between China and Hong Kong

For more than half a century, Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. has been Hong Kong’s gateway to the world, its British heritage and Asian high-altitude luxury fusing the city’s colonial past with its Chinese location. But it’s that unique cultural blend that has ensnared the carrier in an increasingly out-of-control political uprising sweeping through the streets.

After months of anti-Beijing demonstrations in the city, Cathay is emerging as the corporate fall guy as it struggles to navigate a path between the demands of the mainland and employees sympathetic to the uprising. In a dramatic escalation, Chief Executive Officer Rupert Hogg resigned on Friday, capping a tumultuous week in which the carrier was rebuked by China’s regulator, boycotted by state-owned companies and excoriated by nation’s biggest bank.