Cathay Pacific COVID-19 Recovery Continues

Cathay Pacific has published another important update. The airline announced its traffic figures for April 2024 alongside forecasts.

The carrier says it was able to carry 1.741 million passengers across the most recent month, which represented a 26.1% increase year over year. Meanwhile, one of the lower points came from the airline’s passenger load factor, which dropped by 5.4 percentage points to 81.6%.

Monthly revenue passenger kilometres across the airline increased. Additionally, available seat kilometres increased as the airline sought to considerably boost its capacity to new and existing markets.

Cathay Pacific has been heavily involved in rebuilding its network over the last 18 months. While this rebuild will take time, it was absolutely necessary for the airline to do so.

The Hong Kong-based carrier was arguably one of the hardest hit during the pandemic thanks to harsh restrictions on the local people. As a result of the lengthy but harsh restrictions, Cathay Pacific’s international travel demand plummeted to zero. Worse still, this demand was 99% below pre-pandemic numbers for considerably longer than other companies.

In the first four months of the 2024 calendar year, the airline saw the number of passengers carried increase almost 50% year over year to 7.143 million. For the same period, there were also increases in ASKs of 50.9% and RPKs of 42.3%, representing the persistent recovery.

The airline described April as a fantastic month, with the business side of things seeing recovery. Notably, this was thanks to the holiday periods that fell in April and, therefore, the subsequent large-scale events that stimulated further travel.

Inbound and outbound traffic increased in April thanks to the Easter and HSBC Hong Kong Sevens. The airline then reported further great capacity to other Southeast Asian locations.

Cargo Reporting At Cathay Pacific

Ultimately, the airline’s cargo division saw tonnage 13% lower than in March, as recorded in April, with the figures reflecting similar to other global markets.

Cathay Pacific says this decrease was to be expected following the first quarter’s strong March and end. However, despite a 13% drop, the tonnage was still 7% higher year over year.

Despite a drop, the freight division is expected to see growth. Demand is a key driver, with e-commerce shipments from Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland.

Looking Ahead At Cathay Pacific

Cathay Pacific is forecasting the continued addition of new flights and boosting its network over the coming months.

Barcelona is expected to resume in June alongside further route adjustments across its HK Express service. Meanwhile, June and July will typically be fantastic as students return for the summer months.

Cathay Pacific says that based on booking levels, it’s expecting to experience a very strong summer.