Cathay Pacific released its traffic figures for October 2024 showing that the airline reached the milestone of operating more than 10,000 passenger and cargo flight sectors in a single month for the first time this year.
Cathay Pacific carried a total of 2,014,105 passengers in October 2024, an increase of 19.6% compared with October 2023. The month’s revenue passenger kilometres (RPKs) increased 19.1% year on year. Passenger load factor decreased by 1.6 percentage points to 83.1%, while available seat kilometres (ASKs) increased by 21.3% year on year. In the first 10 months of 2024, the number of passengers carried increased by 27.4% to a total of 18,567,818, against a 32.7% increase in ASKs and a 26.8% increase in RPKs, as compared with the same period for 2023.
The airline carried 142,323 tonnes of cargo in October 2024, an increase of 14.3% compared with October 2023. The month’s cargo revenue tonne kilometres (RFTKs) increased 9.8% year on year. The cargo load factor increased by 0.8 percentage points to 61.5%, while available cargo tonne kilometres (AFTKs) increased by 8.4% year on year. In the first 10 months of 2024, the tonnage increased by 10.4% to a total of 1,245,899 tonnes, against an 8.8% increase in AFTKs and a 4.1% increase in RFTKs, as compared with the same period for 2023.
Chief Customer and Commercial Officer Lavinia Lau said: “October was another good month for our travel business, with strong demand for both leisure and business travel resulting in a solid load factor of 83% across our network. We saw considerable leisure traffic from Hong Kong and the Chinese Mainland to destinations in Southeast Asia, Northeast Asia and Europe over the National Day ‘Golden Week’ holiday at the beginning of the month. The Chung Yeung Festival long weekend in Hong Kong also stimulated robust demand from our home city to various short-haul destinations around Asia, with Japan as the most popular choice among our customers. Meanwhile, business traffic also remained strong, driven by the various exhibitions and conventions in Hong Kong as well as the Canton Fair in nearby Guangzhou. This resulted in October seeing the highest number of passengers in our premium cabins of any month since the pandemic.
“Last month, we celebrated the launch of our non-stop passenger service between Hong Kong and Riyadh. This service has been well received by our customers, with considerable demand originating from Hong Kong, the Chinese Mainland, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia,” Lau said.
Cargo
“The traditional cargo peak season continued in October, with tonnage 7% higher than the previous month and 14% above October last year. Our cargo business continued to perform well despite various seasonal holidays. This momentum was driven not only by demand from Hong Kong and the Chinese Mainland, but also from our broader network, particularly the Americas,” Lau said. “While general cargo demand continued to grow during this period, we also noted an increase in shipments through our Cathay Expert services due to machinery movements out of Northeast Asia. Demand for Cathay Priority also maintained its upward trend, reflecting a stronger need from shippers to replenish inventory ahead of the upcoming festivals and year-end sales events.”
Outlook
“Looking ahead, we are projecting a strong Christmas travel peak, with Japan anticipated to be a top destination for outbound travel from our home market. We are also expecting considerable inbound demand from North America, the United Kingdom and other destinations in Europe as customers travel to visit friends and relatives,” Lau said. “In terms of new destinations, Cathay Pacific’s seasonal service of three flights per week between Hong Kong and Cairns will launch on 17 December 2024. Recently, we also announced the resumption of Cathay Pacific’s non-stop passenger services to and from Hyderabad starting from 30 March 2025, further enhancing our network presence in India. Additionally, HK Express launched thrice-weekly passenger flights between Hong Kong and Hiroshima at the start of November, increasing to four return flights per week in January 2025.
“For cargo, the robust demand we have been seeing is expected to continue throughout the rest of the peak season, driven by e-commerce, high-tech and electronic goods from the Chinese Mainland, Southeast Asia, as well as perishables from South West Pacific and the Americas,” Lau said.
On 14 November 2024, Cathay Pacific announced its proposed repurchase of HK$6.74 billion 2.75% guaranteed convertible bonds due 2026, which were issued on 5 February 2021. The buyback reflects Cathay Pacific’s confidence in its long-term business prospects and could also enhance the return to its shareholders. The repurchase price will be determined after trading of Cathay Pacific’s shares on The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited closes on 19 December 2024.
Cathay Pacific and Amadeus expand technology partnership
Travel technology provider Amadeus has expanded its partnership with Hong Kong’s home airline Cathay Pacific, providing cutting-edge technologies that will enhance the airline’s retail capabilities and offer its customers increased flexibility and choice. As part of its digital transformation, Cathay Pacific will continue to use Amadeus’ technologies to include Revenue Accounting and Passenger Recovery.
As the airline continues to refine its digital transformation and retailing strategies, the expanded partnership also sees the continued collaboration towards making Cathay Pacific’s NDC-sourced content available to travel sellers across the globe in phased approach. This underpins the airline’s strategy to accelerate its NDC journey following the adoption of Altéa NDC .
With Altéa NDC, Cathay Pacific will be building towards a differentiated experience for its travelers. Amadeus Altéa NDC provides the end-to-end NDC shopping, booking and servicing flows. It enables airlines to efficiently distribute and service their offers to third parties, with consistency between direct and indirect channels.
For Editorial Inquiries Contact:
Editor Matt Driskill at matt.driskill@asianaviation.com
For Advertising Inquiries Contact:
Head of Sales Kay Rolland at kay.rolland@asianaviation.com
