Cathay Pacific saw its passenger numbers increase by more than 4 000% in January, compared with January 2022.
According to the airline, it flew a total of 1 031 893 passengers last month, the first time it has flown more than one million passengers in a month since the COVID pandemic began.
On average last month it carried more than 33 000 passengers per day, up from approximately 26 000 per day in December 2022, and it operated with 18% more capacity than December, according to Chief Customer and Commercial Officer, Lavinia Lau.
The increase has been attributed to the lifting of Chinese mainland travel restrictions, with Lau saying: “With the return of quarantine-free travel between Hong Kong and the Chinese Mainland on 8 January, we saw increased demand for travel into the Chinese Mainland, both from and through Hong Kong.”
In terms of outlook, the airline is working hard to increase its capacity, especially leading up to the Easter weekend.
“Demand for flights to and from the Chinese Mainland, both for point-to-point and connecting traffic via Hong Kong, is expected to grow and we are endeavouring to provide more options for our customers as quickly as feasible. We are on track to operate more than 100 return flights per week to 14 cities in the Chinese Mainland by the end of this month,” said Lau.
Cathay Pacific is due to resume flights between Hong Kong and Johannesburg in August this year.
