HONG KONG, 29 January 2024: Oneworld Alliance unveiled its first-ever fully branded dedicated airport lounge in Seoul, Cathay Pacific announced last week. 

The new Oneworld lounge opens as the global airline alliance prepares to celebrate its 25^th anniversary later this year.

​To launch its first branded lounge, Oneworld collaborated with global aviation ground services provider Swissport. Situated in Terminal 1 of Incheon International Airport, the lounge covers  555 sqm and can cater for up to 148 customers. 

Incheon International Airport is served by seven Oneworld member airlines: American Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Malaysia Airlines, Qantas, Qatar Airways and SriLankan Airlines. Between them, these Oneworld member airlines operate more than 60 weekly flights to Seoul, connecting the Korean capital with more than 900 destinations worldwide.

The new lounge is open daily between 0730 and 2345 and welcomes Cathay Diamond and Gold, and Oneworld Emerald and Sapphire members, first and business class customers when travelling with any Oneworld member airlines, as well as Cathay Silver members travelling on Cathay Pacific flights.

Cathay chief customer and commercial officer Lavinia Lau commented: “For Cathay Pacific, it is meaningful to see this first alliance lounge opened in Korea, a market that has always been very important to us. With the opening of this fantastic new lounge, we are sure that the whole customer experience provided by Oneworld will be elevated as it allows our customers and members to really relax and enjoy themselves in such a comfortable, colourful, and vibrant environment before taking their flights on any of the oneworld airlines.”

HONG KONG, 29 January 2024: Cathay Pacific surpassed the milestone of carrying more than 20 million passengers during 2023, which compares with about 3 million passengers carried for the whole of 2022.

The airline released the latest traffic figures for December 2023 and also the full year of 2023 for the Cathay Group, comprising Cathay Pacific and HK Express, 

Cathay Pacific carried 1,779,457 passengers in December 2023, an increase of 122.1% compared with December 2022. The month’s revenue passenger kilometres (RPKs) increased 89.3% year-on-year. Passenger load factor decreased by two percentage points to 81.2%, while available seat kilometres (ASKs) increased by 94% year-on-year. 

In the entire year of 2023, passengers carried increased by 541.5% against a 326.8% increase in ASKs and a 396.8% increase in RPKs, compared with 2022.

Chief customer and commercial officer Lavinia Lau said: “December traditionally marks the peak travel season, and we saw many customers take advantage of the extended Christmas holiday to travel, resulting in strong demand for travel services throughout the month. There was an overwhelming demand for travel to short-haul leisure destinations, with Japan and Southeast Asia being especially popular.

“We saw good demand for travel from the United States and the Southwest Pacific in the first half of December. The demand for travel from the United Kingdom was particularly strong as it coincided with the peak period for international students returning to Hong Kong. Furthermore, our seasonal Christchurch service, which resumed last month, was popular among Hong Kong customers and stimulated transit traffic to and from the Philippines and the United Kingdom.”

Outlook 

“As a Group, we made significant progress in our rebuild journey in 2023. As we look ahead to 2024, we remain committed to working towards fully rebuilding our flights to deliver the high-quality and reliable services that Hong Kong deserves. Despite the ongoing challenges affecting the entire global aviation industry, we are prepared to face them, as always, with determination.

“The Lunar New Year is approaching, and this will mark another peak travel period when people celebrate and visit loved ones. We anticipate strong demand from late January until the Lunar New Year holiday ends. We are delighted to announce that our popular Barcelona service will resume in June, and we look forward to welcoming customers onboard.”