Cathay Pacific carried more than 30,000 passengers in March, soaring 65% year-on-year, but still down 99% from pre-pandemic

Cathay Pacific Airways ﹙0293﹚ released passenger and cargo traffic data for March.

Due to the ongoing global COVID-19 outbreak, travel restrictions and quarantine measures in Hong Kong and many markets, Cathay Pacific continued to significantly reduce capacity during the month due to weak demand.

During the period, Cathay Pacific carried 30,628 passengers, an increase of 65.2% year-on-year, but a decrease of 99% compared to the level in March 2019 before the epidemic.

Revenue passenger kilometers increased by 44.9% year-on-year, but decreased by 99% compared to March 2019.

The passenger load factor increased by 24.3 percentage points to 45.6%, and the capacity in terms of available seat kilometers decreased by 32.5% year-on-year and decreased by 98.2% compared with March 2019.

In the first three months of 2022, passengers carried increased by 23.5% compared to the same period last year, but capacity fell by 66.1%, while revenue passenger kilometers increased by 1.2%.

Cathay Pacific carried 97,166 metric tons of cargo in March, a 16.6% increase from the same month last year, but a 47.5% decrease from March 2019.

Cargo revenue tonne-kilometers fell by 28.4% year-on-year during the month and decreased by 65.6% compared to March 2019.

The load factor fell 4.9 percentage points to 81.5%.

Capacity, measured in available cargo tonne kilometers, decreased by 24.1% year-on-year and decreased by 71.1% compared to March 2019.

In the first three months of 2022, cargo capacity fell by 13.8% year-on-year, capacity decreased by 49.2%, and cargo revenue tonne-kilometres fell by 50.3%.

Lin Shaobo, president of customers and commerce, said that in terms of passenger transport business, the operating environment in March was still very severe.

Passenger capacity remained low during the month, less than 2% compared to pre-pandemic levels.

“Due to the fact that passengers were not allowed to transit through Hong Kong International Airport in March, and the ban on flights to nine countries was imposed, we are focusing on Hong Kong’s outbound passenger demand. We are happy to see that the above two restrictions have been lifted on April 1. Lifting the ban The first Cathay Pacific flight departed from London on March 31, carrying 264 passengers and arriving in Hong Kong the next day.

He added that the authorities welcome the lifting of transfer restrictions and the circuit breaker mechanism for regional flights, the rationalization of the circuit breaker mechanism for individual flights, and the shortening of the compulsory quarantine period for arriving passengers and crew members in April.

However, the current travel and operational restrictions remain strict and the company can only marginally increase passenger capacity.

"We will try our best to increase flights to meet customer demand for seats, and continue to be flexible and seize market opportunities."