By (Reuters) Shanghai/Singapore – Cathay Pacific posted a smaller than expected annual loss due to a rebound in the cargo market, moderating ticket price falls and lower fuel hedging losses, prompting analysts to call that the worst was over for the Hong Kong airline. Poor hedging bets on fuel prices and fierce competition from mainland Chinese and Middle Eastern rivals have hurt Cathay, pushing it into losses for the past two years and forcing the airline to undertake a three-year turnaround program targeting HK$4 billion ($510.12 million) in savings. While analysts said it was still too early to say whether the efforts under Chief Executive Rupert Hogg were bearing fruit, they said the firm was benefiting from a global recovery in the cargo market and profits at its associates and subsidiaries. Cathay reported on Wednesday a net loss of HK$1.26 billion for 2017, its biggest in nine years. The loss was wider than the prior year’s HK$575 million but much smaller than an average loss estimate of HK$2.15 billion drawn from 11 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters. Full-year revenue grew 4.9 percent to HK$97.28 billion. The airline reported a profit of HK$792 million in the second half which offset its first half loss of HK$2.05 billion. Cathay shares rose as much as 3.2 percent after the results on Wednesday to its highest in almost two-and-a-half years, before ending unchanged. “We believe the worst is over for Cathay Pacific and we forecast Cathay to turn around with a small net profit of HK$377 million this year,” said Corrine Png, chief executive of transport research firm Crucial Perspective. “2019 will be a much better year for Cathay Pacific as its expensive fuel hedges finally roll over.” Cathay’s loss for 2017 was its first consecutive annual loss and the fourth yearly loss since it was founded in 1946. Under the revamp plan launched last year, it has announced job cuts and plans to boost productivity including increasing the number of economy-class seats on Boeing 777 planes.