UPDATE 1-AIRSHOW-Cathay Pacific cautious on cargo recovery

* Cathay CEO says cargo recovery dependent on big economies

* Says confident about aircraft financing market in 2012

By Tim Hepher and Harry Suhartono

SINGAPORE, Feb 13 (Reuters) - The head of Cathay Pacific, the world's largest air cargo carrier, warned on Monday that any improvement in lacklustre cargo markets this year depended on recovery in the world's big economies.

John Slosar, who became the CEO of the Hong Kong carrier in 2011, also aid he remains confident about the aircraft financing market for this year even after some European banks cut exposure in the sector due to the euro zone's debt problems.

Cathay's 2011 annual cargo throughput fell by 8.6 percent to 1.65 million tonnes due to the slowing global economy and weak cargo demand from China.

"It doesn't look like in the next few months that there is much sign of a pick-up," Slosar told a media briefing on the eve of the Singapore Airshow.

"I would hope maybe in the second half of this year things would start to look better, but that would very much depend on the economy and especially the big economies."

Slosar, whose airline has some 90 planes on order between now and the end of the decade, said he was confident that aircraft deliveries would obtain financing in 2012.

He said that even in 2009, when global credit markets dried up following the collapse of U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers, effectively every single Boeing and Airbus delivery was financed.

But he said he "would not underestimate the challenge" because there were doubts if other lenders would step in to fill the gap left by European players.

Slosar also backed calls for a global agreement to resolve a trade row between the European Union and other world powers over aircraft emissions, an issue that has dominated this year's Singapore Airshow.

The EU's Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), introduced on Jan. 1, has drawn howls of protest from airlines around the world, with China banning its carriers from taking part.

During an industry panel discussion, Slosar took to task a senior European Commission official.

"You can't have it both ways. There's a difference between leadership and bludgeoning. You guys applied the latter, and now you're discovering it works both ways," he told Matthew Baldwin of the directorate-general for mobility and transport.