Cathay Pacific released its traffic figures for September 2024 on Tuesday, 22nd October. 

In the first nine months of 2024, Cathay Pacific and HK Express together surpassed the 20 million mark for passengers carried, having carried a combined total of over 21 million passengers during the period.

Cathay Pacific carried a total of 1,816,908 passengers in September 2024, an increase of 17.8 percent compared with September 2023. 

The month’s revenue passenger kilometres (RPKs) increased 18.4 percent year on year. 

A greater passenger load factor

Passenger load factor decreased by 2.3 percentage points to 81.4 percent, while available seat kilometres (ASKs) increased by 21.7 percent year on year. 

In the first nine months of 2024, the number of passengers carried increased by 28.4 percent to a total of 16,553,713, against a 34.2 percent increase in ASKs and a 27.8 percent increase in RPKs, as compared with the same period for 2023.

According to airline chief customer and commercial officer Lavinia Lau: “Although September is typically a quieter month for leisure travel, demand picked up towards the end of the month coinciding with the National Day ‘Golden Week’ holiday period. We saw significant demand from Hong Kong to cities in Japan as well as Bangkok, and from the Chinese Mainland to destinations in Southeast Asia, Northeast Asia and Europe around the holidays.”

Lau also pointed out that September marked the beginning of the peak season for business travel. As a result, there was increased demand for premium cabins driven by various events, conferences and exhibitions, most notably the Milan and Paris Fashion Weeks. This resulted in September having the highest premium cabin load factor of any month so far in 2024.

Cargo statistics 

The airline carried 133,079 tonnes of cargo in September 2024, an increase of 10.9 percent compared with September 2023. 

The month’s cargo revenue tonne kilometres (RFTKs) increased 4.9 percent year on year. The cargo load factor decreased by 2.4 percentage points to 58.7 percent, while available cargo tonne kilometres (AFTKs) increased by 9.3 percent year on year. 

In the first nine months of 2024, the tonnage increased by 9.9 percent to a total of 1,103,576 tonnes, against an 8.9 percent increase in AFTKs and a 3.4 percent increase in RFTKs, as compared with the same period for 2023.

Likewise, September marks the beginning of the traditional peak cargo season, with tonnage 7 percent higher than August and 11 percent above September last year.

In terms of cargo carried, there was an increase in Cathay Fresh shipments from South West Pacific, Southeast Asia and North America into Hong Kong and the Chinese Mainland, driven by increased demand during the Mid-Autumn Festival.

There was also an increase in shipments through the Cathay Priority solution due to growing demand for time-sensitive shipments to the Americas and Europe. From the Greater Bay Area, e-commerce shipments continued to be the key driver of export tonnage.