“Our travel business performed well in March with healthy demand across our services both leading up to and during the Easter holiday period.” – Lavinia Lau
Cathay Pacific released its traffic figures for March 2024, which showed strong demand for travel from Hong Kong driven by the Easter holiday period, and travel to Hong Kong supported by the various exhibitions and events held in the city.
Cathay Pacific carried a total of 1,883,404 passengers in March 2024, an increase of 42.4% compared with March 2023. The month’s revenue passenger kilometres (RPKs) increased 38.1% year on year. The passenger load factor decreased by 6.6 percentage points to 83.8%, while available seat kilometres (ASKs) increased by 48.9% year on year. In the first three months of 2024, the number of passengers carried increased by 55.7% to a total of 5,401,778, against a 56.4% increase in ASKs and a 47.7% increase in RPKs, as compared with the same period for 2023.
The airline carried 134,551 tonnes of cargo in March 2024, an increase of 10.5% compared with March 2023. The month’s cargo revenue tonne kilometres (RFTKs) increased 4.1% year on year. The cargo load factor decreased by 4.3 percentage points to 62.7%, while available cargo tonne kilometres (AFTKs) increased by 11.2% year on year. In the first three months of 2024, the tonnage increased by 11.1% to a total of 356,380 tonnes, against a 15.2% increase in AFTKs and a 6.2% increase in RFTKs, as compared with the same period for 2023.
Chief Customer and Commercial Officer Lavinia Lau said: “Our travel business performed well in March with healthy demand across our services both leading up to and during the Easter holiday period. Student traffic from the United Kingdom was particularly strong ahead of Easter, and outbound and return traffic in general surged over the holidays. Demand in the premium cabins both to and from Hong Kong also remained strong. This was driven by the various exhibitions and trade shows that took place in the city in March, most notably the Hong Kong International Jewellery Show and Art Basel. We were also pleased to resume our direct flights between Bangkok and Singapore in March, which have been popular with customer”.
