Cathay Pacific carries 1,031,893 passengers in January 2023

Hong Kong : Cathay Pacific released its traffic figures for January 2023, showing positive signs as the airline continues to rebuild and restore connectivity at the Hong Kong international aviation hub. The airline carried a total of 1,031,893 passengers in January 2023, an increase of 4,077.9 per cent compared with January 2022. 

The month's revenue passenger kilometres (RPKs) increased 3,807.3 per cent year-on-year. Passenger load factor increased by 46.4 percentage points to 86.8 per cent, while capacity, measured in available seat kilometres (ASKs), increased by 1,717.1 per cent year-on-year.

The airline carried 95,139 tonnes of cargo last month, an increase of 28.1 per cent compared with January 2022 when we had to suspend our long-haul schedule for seven days due to stricter quarantine measures. The month's cargo revenue tonne kilometres (RFTKs) increased 140.9 per cent year-on-year. The cargo load factor decreased by 14.4 percentage points to 62.2 per cent, while capacity, measured in available cargo tonne kilometres (AFTKs), increased by 196.8 per cent year-on-year.

On the occasion, Lavinia Lau, Chief Customer and Commercial Officer, Cathay Pacific, said, "The new year got off to a positive start in January as Cathay Pacific carried more than one million passengers for the first time since the start of the pandemic. We carried on average more than 33,000 passengers per day, up from about 26,000 per day in December 2022, and operated 18 per cent more capacity than we did in December. We also continued to add more destinations in January, with our Phuket and Xi'an flights resuming."

"In terms of cargo, we saw a small uptick in demand prior to the Lunar New Year holiday, which was supported by more normal cross-border trucking services as the Covid-19 situation on the Chinese Mainland stabilised. This resulted in a good level of cargo being carried in the first half of January.