Cathay Pacific’s March 2023 traffic figures saw passenger load factor surpass 90 per cent, which the airline said reflected the ongoing strong demand for travel.
The Cathay Pacific Group, comprising passenger airlines Cathay Pacific and HK Express, were still at only 50 per cent of pre-pandemic passenger flight capacity levels in March.
The group had resumed flying to more than 70 destinations as of the end of March.
Cathay Pacific carried a total of 1,322,180 passengers last month, an increase of 4,217 pre cent compared with March 2022.
The month’s revenue passenger kilometres (RPKs) increased 4,828 per cent year-on-year. Passenger load factor increased by 44.8 percentage points to 90.4 per cent, while capacity, measured in available seat kilometres (ASKs), increased by 2,384 per cent year-on-year.
In the first three months of 2023, the number of passengers carried increased by 3,907 per cent against a 2,174 per cent increase in capacity and a 4,432 per cent increase in RPKs, as compared with the same period for 2022.
Chief customer and commercial officer, Lavinia Lau, said: “The first quarter of 2023 has been one of continued improvement for our travel business as we maintain our focus on reconnecting Hong Kong with the world. Cathay Pacific’s passenger numbers continued to increase month on month in March, growing 19% to more than 1.3 million compared with February.
Cathay resumed services to three more destinations – Shanghai Hongqiao, Haikou and Nagoya in March.
“Hongqiao in particular saw huge demand for both business and leisure travel. Our Japan and South Korea flights benefited from good passenger traffic for the cherry blossom season and demand ahead of the Easter holiday. Demand between Hong Kong and Taiwan was similarly strong, including transit traffic from Taiwan to Europe and Indonesia via the Hong Kong hub.
We were also delighted to bring back more customer experience highlights, with First class returning on select flights on our Beijing and Los Angeles routes, and our airport lounges in Bangkok, Beijing and Manila also reopening, all of which were very welcomed by our customers who missed those special Cathay touches over the past three years,” Lau said.
Cathay says it is actively working to add more flights to its schedule to satisfy customer demand, in particular between Hong Kong and the Chinese Mainland.
Between now and the end of October, the number of return flights will be progressively increased to about 160 per week, covering 16 airports in 15 cities. This includes four return flights per day to Beijing, six return flights per day to Shanghai Pudong airport and nine return flights per week to Shanghai Hongqiao airport.
