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October 2022 reflects the positive impact of the Hong Kong government’s further adjustments to travel restrictions with passenger numbers spiking 425%
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Cargo throughput drops 20.1%, reflecting global economic slowing and China’s weak production due to continuing COVID restrictions
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Hong Kong’s flag carrier expects passenger traffic to grow further for the rest of 2022 amid strong travel desire despite this week’s resurgence in COVID infections
Cathay Pacific’s October passenger traffic continued to reflect the positive impact of the Hong Kong government’s further adjustments to travel restrictions and quarantine requirements, with passenger volume increasing 424.5% from a year ago.
The Hong Kong flag carrier’s cargo operation, however, reported a 20.1% year-on-year decrease in volume as global economic headwinds and anti-pandemic measures on mainland China continued to weaken trade flows and limit production.
The airline carried a total of 400,909 passengers last month as the government cut to three days since September 30 its seven-day mandatory hotel quarantine for incoming travelers as waning COVID-19 pandemic infections encouraged more Hongkongers to travel. The passenger count, however, was 85.4% below the pre-pandemic level in October 2019
An upsurge in COVID cases in the city above the 8,000 level on November 17 and 18 is rekindling fears the contagion would bring back travel curbs this peak season.
But the government, eased the restrictions further, requiring new arrivals starting November 18 to undergo only two PCR tests – at the airport and on the second day – and take daily rapid tests for a week.
Cathay said revenue passenger kilometers (RPKs) increased 416.6% y-o-y, but were down 80.1% versus October 2019. Passenger load factor rose 44 percentage points to 73.6%, while capacity expanded 108% y-o-y but fell 79% from October 2019 levels.
In the first 10 months of 2022, passenger numbers rose 166% against a 20.4% growth in capacity and a 167.8% increase in RPKs, as compared with the same period for 2021.
Cathay carried 109,425 tons of cargo , down 20.1% y-o-y and 40.2% below the October 2019 level. Cargo revenue ton/km (RFTKs) fell 25% y-o-y and 36.2% vs. October 2019.
The cargo load factor dropped 13.9 percentage points to 69%, while capacity, measured in available cargo ton kilometres (AFTKs), was down 9.9% y-o-y and 37.2% below October 2019. In the first 10 months, tonnage fell 11.1% and shrank 21.9% y-o-y.
Chief Customer and Commercial Officer Ronald Lam said travel sentiment improved significantly since the lifting of quarantine requirements for arrivals on September 30.
“Demand for the first half of October mainly stemmed from flights to Bangkok, Singapore and Seoul. We then saw a surge in demand for travel to Japan when its quarantine requirements for arrivals were relaxed on 11 October,” Lam said.
He said Cathay increased its regional flight frequencies in October, in particular to Japan, and resumed services to Madrid, Milan, Bengaluru, Dubai and Kathmandu.
Lam said passenger flight capacity grew 32% vs. September. Cathay operated 21% of its pre-COVID passenger flight capacity as passenger numbers grew to nearly 13,000 per day from over 8,800 in September.
In terms of cargo, Lam said the global economic slowing and China’s anti-COVID measures continue to impact trade flows and production.
“While our tonnage carried fell in October year-on-year compared with the high base of 2021, it saw a 5% increase over September. We operated about 10% less cargo capacity compared with the same time last year as we flew fewer cargo-only passenger services. Overall, we operated about 63% of our pre-pandemic cargo flight capacity last month,” Lam said.
For the remainder of 2022, Lam said Cathay has added about 3,000 passenger flight sectors from October until the end of December and is on track to achieve its target of operating up to one-third of its pre-pandemic passenger flight capacity levels.
As for cargo, he expects the peak season this year will be subdued compared with the unprecedented peak last year, but said tonnage should increase, driven by seasonal e-commerce events and the start of the perishables season in the Southern Hemisphere.
