Cathay Pacific today 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.

Travel

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.

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.

“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.

“Furthermore, Cathay Cargo is honoured to have received two major awards at the Payload Asia Awards 2024 in October, including the Best Overall Carrier of the Year – Asia Pacific and the Best E-commerce Carrier of the Year – Asia Pacific.

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.

“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.”

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.

The full October figures and glossary are on the following pages.

CATHAY PACIFIC TRAFFIC OCT % Change Cumulative %

Change
  2024 VS OCT 2023

 

 OCT 2024 YTD

 
RPK (000)        
– Chinese Mainland 440,334 24.5% 3,930,314 42.0%
– North East Asia 1,052,451 13.3% 9,892,547 22.7%
– South East Asia 1,033,114 28.8% 9,501,219 27.0%
– South Asia, Middle East & Africa 533,390 22.7% 4,739,661 56.4%
– South West Pacific 1,209,295 42.8% 10,086,817 35.6%
– North America 2,296,795 17.1% 22,514,670 39.9%
– Europe 1,647,509 4.9% 15,215,528 1.7%
RPK Total (000) 8,212,887 19.1% 75,880,756 26.8%
Passengers carried 2,014,105 19.6% 18,567,818 27.4%
Cargo revenue tonne km (000) 787,601 9.8% 6,925,454 4.1%
Cargo carried (000kg) 142,323 14.3% 1,245,899 10.4%
Number of flight sectors (passenger and cargo) 10,260 20.2% 93,481 29.2%

CATHAY PACIFIC CAPACITY OCT % Change Cumulative %

Change
  2024 VS OCT 2023

 

 OCT 2024 YTD

 
ASK (000)        
– Chinese Mainland 648,885 27.5% 5,407,423 44.7%
– North East Asia 1,312,452 12.0% 12,800,701 29.7%
– South East Asia 1,365,986 29.5% 12,391,035 33.2%
– South Asia, Middle East & Africa 671,974 27.2% 6,044,646 63.5%
– South West Pacific 1,378,466 44.5% 12,541,975 42.8%
– North America 2,656,431 23.2% 25,305,849 46.6%
– Europe 1,849,004 4.4% 16,941,745 4.2%
ASK Total (000) 9,883,198 21.3% 91,433,375 32.7%
Passenger load factor 83.1% -1.6%pt 83.0% -3.8%pt
Available cargo tonne km (000) 1,281,055 8.4% 11,643,821 8.8%
Cargo load factor 61.5% 0.8%pt 59.5% -2.7%pt
ATK (000) 2,221,628 13.5% 20,347,325 17.8%

Glossary

Terms:

Available seat kilometres (“ASK”)

Passenger seat capacity, measured in seats available for the carriage of passengers on each sector multiplied by the sector distance.

Available tonne kilometres (“ATK”)

Overall capacity measured in tonnes available for the carriage of passengers, excess baggage, cargo on each sector multiplied by the sector distance.

Available cargo tonne kilometres (“AFTK”)

Cargo capacity measured in tonnes available for the carriage of freight on each sector multiplied by the sector distance.

Revenue passenger kilometres (“RPK”)

Number of passengers carried on each sector multiplied by the sector distance.

Cargo revenue tonne kilometres (“RFTK”)

Amount of cargo, measured in tonnes, carried on each sector multiplied by the sector distance.

Ratio:

                                                                                 Revenue passenger kilometres/

                                                                                Cargo revenue tonne kilometres

Passenger/Cargo load factor =        ————————————————————

                                                                                    Available seat kilometres/

                                                                               Available cargo tonne kilometres