Cathay Pacific's April passenger traffic rebounds 82% year-on-year, further cuts mainland flight frequency in response to Shanghai epidemic

Cathay Pacific released passenger and cargo traffic data for April.

During the period, 40,823 passengers were carried, an increase of 82.2% compared with the same month in 2021, and a decrease of 98.7% compared with the level in April 2019 before the epidemic.

Revenue passenger kilometers increased by 60.7% year-on-year, but decreased by 98.5% compared to April 2019.

The passenger load factor increased by 31.5 percentage points to 55.6%, and the capacity in terms of available seat kilometers decreased by 30.2% year-on-year and decreased by 97.7% compared with April 2019.

In the first four months of 2022, passengers carried increased by 37.8% compared to the same period last year, but capacity fell by 60.1%, while revenue passenger kilometers increased by 15.8%.

In terms of freight, 9.2361 metric tons of cargo were carried in April, an increase of 26.3% compared to the same month last year, but a decrease of 43.6% compared to April 2019.

Cargo revenue tonne-kilometres for the month fell 13.2% year-on-year and 62.4% lower than April 2019.

The load factor fell 2.7 percentage points to 80.2%.

Capacity measured in available cargo tonne kilometers decreased by 10.2% year-on-year and 70.7% compared to April 2019.

In the first four months of 2022, cargo volume fell by 5.4% year-on-year, capacity fell by 42%, and cargo revenue tonne-kilometres fell by 43.3%.

Airline capacity increased by about 25% compared to March

Cathay Pacific added that as the Hong Kong SAR government has recently adjusted a number of travel restrictions and quarantine regulations in stages, Cathay Pacific's passenger and cargo traffic data in April still reflect the impact of some restrictions.

Cathay Pacific Customer and Commercial President Lim Shaobo said passenger business performance improved in April, with passenger demand growing across the Cathay Pacific network.

As the government lifted the ban on passenger flights arriving from 9 countries on April 1, and the quarantine period for arriving passengers was reduced from 14 days to 7 days, the demand of citizens returning to Hong Kong from other places (especially the United Kingdom) increased.

Cathay Pacific increased its passenger capacity by about 25% from March in response to strong demand, but passenger capacity in April was only about 2% above pre-pandemic levels.

"We have added more flight frequencies to provide more and more convenient connecting flights for transit passengers. In addition to the continued demand from mainland China, transit demand to and from other Asian cities has also picked up. We picked up on April 29. 2,805 passengers, a new high since August 4, 2021. On the other hand, in response to the new crown epidemic in Shanghai, we have further reduced the number of flights to mainland China.”

Looking forward, Cathay Pacific pointed out that the recent adjustment of travel restrictions and quarantine requirements by the Hong Kong SAR government will help promote the resumption of tourism activities and strengthen the flight network connection of Hong Kong's international aviation hub.

When it comes to passenger transport, Cathay Pacific said that adjustments to quarantine and medical surveillance regulations have allowed the company to resume operating more flights to and from more destinations.

"We have been working tirelessly and will actively increase flights in the coming months. Cathay Pacific's flight schedule from early June includes daily flights to and from Hong Kong and London Heathrow. We will also resume or increase flights to the United States, Australia, Flights to a number of key markets including New Zealand and India."