Cathay Pacific reports strong traffic figures for April 2023
The airline carried a total of 1,381,073 passengers over the last month
Cathay Pacific released its traffic statistics for the month of April, revealing a robust demand for travel during the holiday season.
“April was a busy month for our travel business as many of our customers looked to enjoy a getaway during the holiday period,” said Chief Customer and Commercial Officer Lavinia Lau in a May 18 press release. “Passenger demand was especially strong over the Easter holiday in the early part of the month, and on April 9, we recorded our highest number of passengers on a single day since the start of the pandemic, carrying 53,233 in total. Meanwhile, we continued to increase our passenger flight capacity and add more frequencies to destinations in Europe, Southeast Asia, Australia and Japan. Demand for premium class seats has also been positive, driven by both corporate and leisure travel.”
The positive travel sentiment observed since the beginning of the year has led to exciting results for the Cathay Pacific Group, which includes Cathay Pacific and HK Express. Over the first four months of the year, these passenger airlines collectively transported nearly six million passengers.
April 2023 saw Cathay Pacific carry a total of 1,381,073 passengers, an increase of 3,283 percent compared to the same period last year. Furthermore, revenue passenger kilometers (RPKs) for the month experienced a surge of 3,139 percent year-on-year. The passenger load factor also witnessed a significant rise of 31.3 percentage points, reaching an impressive 86.9 percent. In terms of capacity, measured in available seat kilometers (ASKs), the airline observed a 1,973 percent increase compared to April 2022. Analyzing the first four months of 2023, the number of passengers carried skyrocketed by 3,707 percent, outpacing the 2,116 percent growth in capacity and the 3,989 percent surge in RPKs, as compared to the same period in 2022.
Lau added, “We experienced a surge in demand from Indonesia in mid-April, coinciding with the end of Ramadan, and we added more flights from Jakarta and Surabaya for our customers accordingly. Towards the end of April, we also saw increased traffic ahead of Labour Day and the Golden Week holiday from the Chinese Mainland.”
Looking to the future, Lau said, “In terms of destinations, we look forward to resuming our Johannesburg service from August 1 with three return flights per week, once again connecting our home city with Africa. On top of that, from October 3 we will be resuming our Chicago service with three return flights per week, bringing our total number of destinations in North America to seven and further expanding our connectivity with the region.
The airline is focusing on regrowth and has reintroduced its Cathay magazine on flights for passengers to enjoy and discover inspirational travel lifestyle content.
