HONG KONG, 19 August 2024: Cathay Pacific flew 2,008,225 passengers in July 2024, an increase of 15.1% compared with July 2023, the airline reports in its latest traffic figures for July 2024.
Passenger load factor decreased by 3.8 percentage points to 85.5%, while available seat kilometres (ASKs) increased by 21.2% year-on-year. In the first seven months of 2024, the number of passengers carried increased by 32.5% to 12,667,826, against a 39% increase in ASKs and a 31.6% increase in RPKs, compared with the same period for 2023.
Cargo
The airline carried 126,797 tonnes of cargo in July 2024, an increase of 9.6% compared with July 2023. The month’s cargo revenue tonne kilometres (RFTKs) decreased 0.5% year-on-year. The cargo load factor decreased by 1.5 percentage points to 58.3%, while available cargo tonne kilometres (AFTKs) increased by 2.1% year-on-year. In the first seven months of 2024, the tonnage increased by 10.3% to a total of 846,261 tonnes, against a 9.9% increase in AFTKs and a 3.8% increase in RFTKs, as compared with the same period for 2023.
Travel
Chief Customer and Commercial Officer Lavinia Lau commented: “Marking the start of the traditional summer travel peak, July was a milestone month for Cathay Pacific as the airline carried over 2 million passengers for the first time in a single month since our rebuild, while the 85.5% load factor was the highest of any month so far this year.
“Such robust demand was driven by the increased popularity of long-haul flights to and from Hong Kong in the first half of the month among students and those visiting friends and relatives. A surge followed this in demand for travel to popular short-haul destinations in Japan and Southeast Asia in the second half of July. In addition, we saw strong demand for flights to Paris due to the Olympic Games, and we were delighted to carry a significant number of athletes and spectators to attend this momentous sporting occasion.”
Outlook
The airline forecasts that the robust travel demand seen in July will continue through August, while September will receive a boost from students returning to the United Kingdom ahead of the new school year.
“Earlier in August, we were delighted to welcome the launch of Cathay Pacific’s new four-times-weekly Ningbo service. These flights complement the daily flights already operated by HK Express to and from the city. Additionally, HK Express has recently announced the launch of a new route between Hong Kong and Penang, Malaysia, which will commence service on 21 November 2024. Our customers can continue to look forward to more exciting destinations being added to our network as we work towards reaching 100 destinations as a Group within 2025.”
