HONG KONG, 23 September 2024: Cathay Pacific flew 2,068,979 passengers in August, an increase of 15.9% compared with August 2023. This is the second consecutive month the airline exceeded the 2 million passenger mark.
The month’s revenue passenger kilometres (RPKs) increased 15.9% year-on-year. Passenger load factor decreased by 2.9 percentage points to 85.2%, while available seat kilometres (ASKs) increased by 19.8% year-on-year. In the first eight months of 2024, the number of passengers carried increased by 29.9% to a total of 14,736,805, against a 36.1% increase in ASKs and a 29.2% increase in RPKs, as compared with the same period for 2023.
The airline carried 124,236 tonnes of cargo in August 2024, an increase of 6.3% compared with August 2023. The month’s cargo revenue tonne kilometres (RFTKs) decreased 0.9% year-on-year. The cargo load factor decreased by 1.7 percentage points to 57.1%, while available cargo tonne kilometres (AFTKs) increased by 2.1% year-on-year. In the first eight months of 2024, the tonnage increased by 9.8% to 970,498 tonnes, against an 8.8% increase in AFTKs and a 3.2% increase in RFTKs, compared with the same period for 2023.
Travel
Chief Customer and Commercial Officer Lavinia Lau commented: “August marks the second half of the traditional summer travel peak. The strong demand we saw in July continued in August, with more than 2 million passengers carried for the second month in a row. We also set a new single-day post-pandemic record on 10 August, carrying almost 75,000 passengers.
“Leisure travel demand from Hong Kong and the rest of the Greater Bay Area was strong throughout August, with short-haul destinations being particularly popular. The beginning of the month also saw the resumption of our flights serving Ningbo, which were well received by our customers in the Chinese Mainland, Hong Kong and India.”
Cargo
Lau noted cargo demand remained stable in August, continuing the trend of the past months, with tonnage 6% above August last year.
“We observed an uptick in demand towards the end of the month, in line with expectations as we look ahead to the traditional year-end peak.”
Outlook
“As National Day approaches, travel demand from the Chinese Mainland for the upcoming ‘golden week’ holiday period is looking promising. Destinations in Southeast Asia are among the most popular, with Japan and South Korea also seeing strong customer interest,” Lau explained.
“In terms of new destinations, the airline is looking forward to launching our new passenger flights to and from Riyadh in Saudi Arabia at the end of October, which will enhance the network in the Middle East and strengthen Hong Kong’s connectivity with this important region.
Additionally, HK Express recently announced it will launch services to Hiroshima in November and Phu Quoc in December.
