Cathay Pacific today released its traffic figures for July 2023, which show that together with HK Express, the Cathay Group as a whole surpassed the milestone of having carried more than two million passengers in a month for the first time since the pandemic.
Cathay Pacific carried a total of 1,744,374 passengers last month, an increase of 693.8% compared with July 2022. The month’s revenue passenger kilometres (RPKs) increased 421.6% year on year. Passenger load factor increased by 16 percentage points to 89.3%, while capacity, measured in available seat kilometres (ASKs), increased by 328.2% year on year. In the first seven months of 2023, the number of passengers carried increased by 1,622% against a 818.9% increase in capacity and a 1,149% increase in RPKs, as compared with the same period for 2022.
Cathay Chief Customer and Commercial Officer Lavinia Lau said: “July marks the beginning of the traditional summer peak for passenger travel, and we are very pleased to see that demand has been strong. We continued to add back more capacity for our customers – 11% more compared with June – primarily on Cathay's North America, Europe, Japan and Southeast Asia services catering to the rising demand for visiting friends and relatives and leisure travel. We continue to make good progress. As a Group comprising Cathay Pacific and HK Express, we are now close to 60% of pre-pandemic passenger flight capacity levels. We are on track to achieve our target of 70% covering 80 destinations by the end of this year, and we are confident of reaching 100% by the end of 2024."
