Cathay Pacific posts October traffic growth on strong holiday demand
Cathay Pacific reported a 29.3% YoY increase in passenger numbers for October, with 2.6 million passengers carried. ASK and RPK grew by 26.3% and 30.4% respectively, with a passenger load factor of 85.8%. HK Express saw a 31.9% rise in passengers. Cargo volumes increased by 6.4%. The group expanded its network with new flights to Changsha, Adelaide, and Kota Kinabalu, expecting high winter demand.
Passenger and cargo volumes rose sharply during the month.
Cathay Pacific carried 2.6 million passengers in October, a 29.3% increase year on year (YoY), according to a press release.
Available seat kilometres (ASKs) grew 26.3% to 12.48b, whilst revenue passenger kilometres (RPKs) rose 30.4% to 10.71 billion. The passenger load factor reached 85.8%, up 2.7 percentage points. Year-to-date (YTD) passenger numbers stood at 23.6 million, 27.1% higher than the same period in 2024.
HK Express carried 683,476 passengers, up 31.9% YoY. ASKs increased 34% to 1.63 billion and RPKs rose 29.9% to 1.25 billion. The load factor fell 2.4 percentage points to 76.5%. YTD passenger numbers reached 6.49 million, a 30.7% increase.
Cathay Cargo carried 151,439 tonnes in October, 6.4% higher than a year earlier. Available freight tonne kilometres (AFTKs) rose 7.8% to 1.38 billion, whilst revenue freight tonne kilometres (RFTKs) increased 5.6% to 832 million. The cargo load factor slipped 1.2 percentage points to 60.3%. YTD tonnage reached 1.37 million tonnes, up 9.7%.
The group expanded its network in November with daily flights to Changsha and seasonal services to Adelaide. HK Express will add Kota Kinabalu later in the month.
During the winter peak, the group expects to operate 330 weekly return flights to the Chinese Mainland, close to 100 to Oceania, and over 430 to Southeast Asia.
