Cathay says traffic growth gaining momentum

Cathay Pacific released its traffic figures for November 2024 showing that the airline continued its growth momentum in both the passenger and cargo businesses. Cathay Pacific carried a total of 2,010,506 passengers in November 2024, an increase of 23.1% compared with November 2023. The month’s revenue passenger kilometres (RPKs) increased 25.8% year on year. Passenger load factor increased by 3 percentage points to 83.5%, while available seat kilometres (ASKs) increased by 21.3% year on year. In the first 11 months of 2024, the number of passengers carried increased by 27% to a total of 20,578,324, against a 31.5% increase in ASKs and a 26.7% increase in RPKs, as compared with the same period for 2023. The airline carried 142,601 tonnes of cargo in November 2024, an increase of 15% compared with November 2023. The month’s cargo revenue tonne kilometres (RFTKs) increased 11.9% year on year. The cargo load factor increased by 1.2 percentage points to 62.3%, while available cargo tonne kilometres (AFTKs) increased by 9.8% year on year. In the first 11 months of 2024, the tonnage increased by 10.9% to a total of 1,388,501 tonnes, against an 8.9% increase in AFTKs and a 4.8% increase in RFTKs, as compared with the same period for 2023. Lavinia Lau. Chief Customer and Commercial Officer Lavinia Lau said: “November was another solid month for our travel business. Passenger volumes remained strong across our network and for the fourth time this year, Cathay Pacific carried more than two million passengers in a single month. Travel demand was particularly robust on our routes to Japan and South Korea, driven by traffic from Hong Kong as well as Australia and Southeast Asia. Hong Kong was also a popular destination for travellers from Southeast Asia, where the school holidays drove increased leisure travel demand. Our premium cabins continued to see good demand supported by return business traffic following the conclusion of the Canton Fair in Guangzhou early in the month. We also saw notable transit traffic via Hong Kong on our Riyadh service to and from regional ports, including the Chinese Mainland. Media Information Cargo “In terms of cargo, November tonnage was at similar levels to the previous month, but was 15% higher year on year. We observed healthy market momentum during the peak season, particularly from Hong Kong and other cities in the Greater Bay Area driven by e-commerce sales events,” Lau said. “There was high demand for perishables from the Americas and Southwest Pacific, with significant deliveries to Hong Kong and other regional routes in Asia. Additionally, we observed an increase in tonnage of our Cathay Expert solution due to transportation of machinery and engines, especially from Japan. Our mail volumes also started to rise as we approach the festive season. November also saw the successful launch of our new marketing campaign for Cathay Courier following the special solution’s relaunch in July this year, with our first video showcasing our time-sensitive delivery capabilities. Outlook “As a Group, we are pleased to have successfully completed our two-year rebuilding journey. Together, Cathay Pacific and HK Express will reach 100% of pre-pandemic flights from January 2025. To support our rebuild, we have set a new record on the people front with around 7,000 new employees recruited and trained in 2024. Our overall Cathay Group headcount has now reached more than 30,000 people, including over 3,400 pilots across Cathay Pacific and HK Express,” Lau said. “We project that the two airlines will operate passenger services to 100 destinations around the world within 2025. This month saw Cathay Pacific add Cairns and HK Express add Phu Quoc, Hualien and Shizuoka to our global network. For 2025, Cathay Pacific has already announced Hyderabad, Dallas, Munich and Brussels, while HK Express has announced Sendai, with more new destinations still to come. The group projects a strong second-half financial result driven by elevated cargo demand and reduced fuel prices. This is partially offset by a continued normalisation of passenger yields as the supply of flights increases to meet demand in the overall market as expected. Additionally, the Cathay Group’s second-half result includes a gain estimated to be approximately HK$0.5 billion on deemed disposal resulting from the issuance of A shares by Air China Limited (“Air China”). On 10th December 2024, Cathay Pacific’s interest in Air China was diluted from 15.87% to 15.09% as a result of Air China issuing 855 million new A shares to China National Aviation Holding Corporation Limited with proceeds of the issuance totalling RMB6 billion. Lau continued: “With respect to the Cathay Group’s consolidated 2024 full-year financial result, the second half of the year has historically been the stronger of the two halves for the Group and this has been the case this year as it was in 2023.” Singapore Airlines says capacity higher in November In November 2024, the Singapore Airlines (SIA) Group’s passenger capacity was 9.3% higher than the same month last year, while passenger traffic rose by 8.3%. Consequently, the Group’s passenger load factor (PLF) came in at 87.0%, 0.8 percentage points lower year-on-year. SIA and Scoot posted monthly PLFs of 86.8% and 87.4% respectively. During the month, the two airlines carried a combined 3.3 million passengers, an increase of 7.5% from the year before. Cargo loads rose 10.3% year-on-year, supported by an increase in freighter charters. Cargo capacity expanded by 12.8% from a year ago due to higher utilisation of freighter aircraft and higher bellyhold capacity from increased passenger services. As a result, cargo load factor decreased by 1.3 percentage points to 56.6%. During the month, SIA launched daily passenger services to Beijing’s Daxing International Airport. With this addition, the Airline now serves two points in China’s capital city and the Group serves 23 destinations in mainland China, reflecting its firm commitment to this important market. At the end of November 2024, the Group’s passenger network1 covered 128 destinations in 36 countries and territories. SIA served 79 destinations, while Scoot served 71 destinations. The cargo network1 comprised 132 destinations in 37 countries and territories. For Editorial Inquiries Contact: Editor Matt Driskill at [email protected] For Advertising Inquiries Contact: Head of Sales Kay Rolland at [email protected]