HONG KONG, 22 December 2023: Cathay Pacific released its traffic figures for November 2023 earlier this week, confirming the airline carried 1,633,145 passengers in November 2023, an increase of 210% compared with November 2022.
The month’s revenue passenger kilometres (RPKs) increased 148.2% year-on-year. Passenger load factor increased by 2.1 percentage points to 80.5%, while available seat kilometres (ASKs) increased by 141.9% year-on-year. In the first 11 months of 2023, the number of passengers carried increased by 709.2% against a 393.2% increase in ASKs and a 499.7% increase in RPKs, compared to the same period for 2022
Travel
Cathay Pacific’s chief customer and commercial officer Lavinia Lau said: “November is typically a slower month for our travel business. Our routes to and from the US saw reduced demand before Thanksgiving week, with less business and leisure travel around the holiday period. There were no public holidays in November, so leisure travel from Hong Kong across the network was also generally softer.
“Nevertheless, there were some bright spots within the network, including our India routes, which saw strong Diwali traffic. Our Japan routes also saw good leisure demand for the autumn leaves.”
Outlook
“We are very excited to have welcomed several recent developments that further enhance the intermodal travel experience from the Greater Bay Area. The first was opening our first-ever Cathay Pacific ferry lounge at the Shekou Cruise Home Port in Shenzhen in November, enabling customers travelling via ferry codeshare to enjoy a premium lounge experience before their journey. The second was the launch of the ‘Fly-Via-Zhuhai-HK’ passenger service by the Airport Authority Hong Kong in December, which enables seamless connection via Hong Kong International Airport using the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge without the need for border control clearance in Hong Kong.
“Meanwhile, this December will mark the first Christmas holiday period since Hong Kong’s borders fully reopened, and we are very pleased to see that travel demand remains strong.
“Our seasonal Christchurch service returned this month – it was our first seasonal restart since the pandemic, and the response from our customers has been encouraging. We are also delighted to return our first-class service on our popular New York (JFK) flights CX830/CX831 starting from 31 March 2024.”
