Cathay Pacific reports growth in passenger and cargo traffic for December

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Cathay Pacific reports growth in passenger and cargo traffic for December

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Paul Smitton Director Customer Lifestyle | Cathay Pacific

By Sky Industry News

Jan 21, 2025

Cathay Pacific has released its traffic figures for December 2024, revealing significant growth in both passenger and cargo operations. The Cathay Group, which includes Cathay Pacific and HK Express, reported carrying over 28 million passengers throughout the year, marking a 30.7% increase compared to the previous year. Cargo operations also saw an uptick, with Cathay Cargo transporting 1.5 million tonnes of cargo in 2024, up by 11% from 2023.

In December alone, Cathay Pacific carried 2,248,950 passengers, reflecting a 26.4% rise from December 2023. Revenue passenger kilometres (RPKs) increased by 27.9%, while the passenger load factor improved by 3.6 percentage points to reach 84.8%. Available seat kilometres (ASKs) rose by 22.5%.

Cargo figures for December showed an increase as well, with the airline handling 143,564 tonnes of cargo—a growth of 11.7% compared to the same month in the previous year. Cargo revenue tonne kilometres (RFTKs) went up by 6.5%, and the cargo load factor increased slightly by 0.6 percentage points to reach 61.4%. Available cargo tonne kilometres (AFTKs) grew by 5.5%.

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Lavinia Lau, Chief Customer and Commercial Officer at Cathay Pacific, commented on the performance: “December is the traditional peak season for our travel business as customers visit friends and relatives and travel for leisure over the Christmas and New Year holidays." She noted that Cathay Pacific and HK Express achieved a milestone during this period by carrying more than 100,000 passengers in a single day on eight occasions.

Lau highlighted high demand for premium cabins before the holiday season due to increased business-related travel and mentioned the resumption of seasonal flights to Cairns as being well-received.

Regarding cargo operations, Lau stated: “For cargo, the healthy market momentum seen in previous months continued into December.” She pointed out robust demand for e-commerce shipments from Hong Kong and other regions during the festive season.

Looking ahead to future prospects, Lau said: “As a Group, we made incredible progress in 2024,” adding that they have completed their two-year rebuild journey successfully reaching pre-pandemic flight levels from January 2025.

Cathay Pacific plans to strengthen Hong Kong's position as an international aviation hub with new flights and destinations planned for both passenger and cargo services in the coming year.