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Cathay Pacific reports 693.8% jump in July passenger traffic to 1.74 million
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Adding HK Express’ passenger count, Cathay Group surpasses its 2 million passengers a month milestone for the first time since the pandemic
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Revenue passenger kms soar 421.6% y-o-y; cargo revenue ton kms up 24.6% y-o-y
Cathay Pacific carried 1.74M passengers in July 2023, a 693.8% year-on-year increase and, along with subsidiary HK Express, surpassed the group’s 2-million passenger milestone in a month for the first time since the pandemic, the Hong Kong flag carrier said on August 17.
The airline’s cargo business likewise reported growth, with e-commerce remaining a bright spot that helped volume increase 14.9% y-o-y to 115,729 ton last month, the carrier said in its monthly operational update.
Cathay announced its impressive July performance four days after paying a dividend of HK$292.5 million (US$37.4 million) due on preference shares on Monday, August 14, and after paying on June 30 a deferred dividend of HK$1.5 billion on the preference shares held by the Hong Kong government.
With travel business taking off again, Cathay announced two weeks ago it will grant all its employees a special pay equivalent to one and a half month’s salary.
Cathay said revenue passenger kilometers (RPKs) soared 421.6% y-o-y in July while its passenger load factor climbed 16 percentage points to 89.3%, as capacity, measured in available seat kilometers (ASKs), expanded 328.2% y-o-y.
In the first seven months of 2023, the number of passengers carried shot up 1,622% against an 818.9% expansion in capacity and a 1,149% upsurge in RPKs, as compared with the same period for 2022.
The carrier said its cargo revenue ton kilometers (RFTKs) rose 24.6% y-o-y. Its cargo load factor decreased 11.2 percentage points to 59.8%, while capacity, measured in available cargo ton kilometers (AFTKs), grew 47.9% y-o-y.
In the first seven months of 2023, tonnage increased 22.4% against a 102.5% expansion in capacity and a 71.1% y-o-y surge in RFTKs.
“July marks the beginning of the traditional summer peak for passenger travel, and we are very pleased to see that demand has been strong,” said Chief Customer and Commercial Officer Lavinia Lau.
Lau said Cathay added back 11% more capacity than in June – primarily on its North America, Europe, Japan and Southeast Asia services as the carrier catered to rising demand for visiting friends and relatives (VFR) and leisure travel.
She said long-haul flights both to and from Hong Kong were especially popular in the first half of July among VFR travellers, whose numbers substantially drove up demand for popular short-haul destinations around Asia as the school holidays started in mid-July. Lau said all this led to a nearly 90% load factor.
Lau said that while overall cargo demand growth in July was flat month on month, “e-commerce traffic continued to be a bright spot holding volumes up”. She said movement of seasonal fresh produce contributed to good volume growth under the airline’s Cathay Fresh solution, lifting overall cargo tonnage in July by 4% m-o-m.
Cathay expects the strong travel demand that saw 1.74M passengers in July will continue through the rest of the summer peak in August as the airline makes good progress in rebuilding the Cathay Group and connectivity in its home hub.
Lau said that, as a group comprising Cathay Pacific and HK Express, the company is now close to 60% of its pre-pandemic passenger flight capacity levels.
“We are on track to achieve our target of 70% covering 80 destinations by the end of this year, and we are confident of reaching 100% by the end of 2024,” Lau said.
The Cathay executive said the airline will be reopening its lounge at Taipei airport and introducing its all-new business class offering, the Aria Suite, on its long-haul Boeing 777-300ER fleet in the second quarter of 2024.
On the cargo side, Cathay expects volumes to remain flat but expect demand will pick up from the end of the third quarter as the traditional peak period for air cargo begins. “Overall, we [expect] our cargo business will continue to perform solidly throughout the second half of 2023,” Lau said.
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