HONG KONG, 24 March 2025: The Cathay Group released its traffic data for February 2025 at the weekend, showing it is on track to reaching 100 passenger destinations by the close of 2025.

Chief Customer and Commercial Officer Lavinia Lau said: “February marked another positive month for the Cathay Group. Driven by the return travel peak over the Lunar New Year holiday, Cathay Pacific and HK Express set a new post-pandemic record on 2 February by carrying more than 111,000 passengers on a single day.

“As a group, we are pleased to add even more new destinations to our expanding global network as we move closer to exceeding 100 passenger destinations this year. 

“Cathay Pacific will launch flights to Hyderabad, India, at the end of March, and also recently announced a new non-stop service to Urumqi starting from 28 April 2025. HK Express recently announced flights to Komatsu from 24 April, Cheongju from 5 June, Daegu from 6 June, and Miyako (Shimojishima) from 27 June. In total, 13 new destinations have already been announced for 2025, with more to come.

“In addition, we were proud to have our achievements in cargo and sustainability recognised recently with two prestigious awards from Air Transport World. Cathay Cargo earned the title Cargo Operator of the year for the second time in three years. Cathay Pacific was named Eco-Airline of the Year, becoming the first airline in Asia to receive this distinction.”

Cathay Pacific

Cathay Pacific carried 14.3% more passengers in February 2025 compared with February 2024, while Available Seat Kilometres (ASK) increased by 17%. In the first two months of 2025, the number of passengers carried increased by 25.4% compared with the same period for 2024.

Lavinia said: “Following the Lunar New Year holiday, leisure travel demand softened while business travel demand picked up, driven by various exhibitions and trade events held in late February and early March. This resulted in February seeing a robust load factor in our premium cabins. Looking ahead, we anticipate reduced leisure travel demand from our home market up to the end of March, during which we will continue to leverage our global network to boost transit traffic.”

Lavinia noted: “Demand from our Hong Kong hub and the wider Greater Bay Area market started slowly due to the Lunar New Year holiday but picked up towards the end of February. We observed continued growth in our Cathay Secure solution, which was driven by increased shipments of electronics from the Chinese mainland and Southeast Asia. We were also proud to be the official airline sponsor of the Longines Hong Kong International Horse Show, transporting around 70 of the world’s finest sports horses from Liège and London to Hong Kong, showcasing our expertise and care in transporting live animals.

“For March, we expect market demand to pick up as we ramp up our scheduled freighter frequencies to prepare for the quarter end. We are also keeping a close watch on the volatility of the cargo market and will leverage our built-in flexibility to adjust our network and capacity to capture demand changes.”

Cathay Cargo

Cathay Cargo carried 11.8% more cargo in February 2025 than in February 2024. Available Freight Tonne Kilometres (AFTKs) increased by 3.5% while the load factor decreased by 1.4 percentage points year on year. In the first two months of 2025, the total tonnage increased by 12.8% compared with the same period in 2024.

Lavinia said: “Demand from our Hong Kong hub and the broader Greater Bay Area market started slowly due to the Lunar New Year holiday but picked up towards the end of February. We observed continued growth in our Cathay Secure solution, which was driven by increased shipments of electronics from the Chinese mainland and Southeast Asia. We were also proud to be the official airline sponsor of the Longines Hong Kong International Horse Show, transporting around 70 of the world’s finest sports horses from Liège and London to Hong Kong, showcasing our expertise and care in transporting live animals.

“For March, we expect market demand to pick up as we ramp up our scheduled freighter frequencies to prepare for the quarter end. We are also keeping a close watch on the volatility of the cargo market and will leverage our built-in flexibility to adjust our network and capacity to capture demand changes.”

HK Express

HK Express carried more than 585,000 passengers in February, an increase of 32% year over year, while Available Seat Kilometres (ASK) grew by 38%. In the first two months of 2025, the number of passengers carried increased by 39.1% compared with the same period in 2024.

Lavinia said: “HK Express continued its growth trajectory in February, announcing new additions to its network and operating more flights and capacity. March will be quieter after the leisure travel peak over the Lunar New Year holiday. However, we look forward to welcoming three interesting new destinations — Nha Trang, Ishigaki and Komatsu — in April.”