Cathay Pacific’s January 2024 traffic report now available

Friday, February 23, 2024

Cathay Pacific revealed its January 2024 traffic data today. Within the Cathay Group, which includes Cathay Pacific and HK Express, more than two million passengers were transported throughout the month, averaging over 70,000 passengers daily.Specifically, Cathay Pacific alone served a total of 1,717,200 passengers in January 2024, marking a notable increase of 66.4% compared to January 2023. The revenue passenger kilometres (RPKs) for the month surged by 56.7% year-on-year. Despite this growth, the passenger load factor experienced a slight decline, dropping by 4 percentage points to 82.8%. Concurrently, available seat kilometres (ASKs) saw a robust increase of 64.2% compared to the same period last year.

Regarding cargo operations, Cathay Pacific transported 114,790 tonnes of cargo in January 2024, reflecting a significant uptick of 20.7% from January 2023. The cargo revenue tonne kilometres (RFTKs) increased by 11.4% year-on-year.

Despite this, there was a decrease in the cargo load factor by 3.6 percentage points, settling at 58.6%. Conversely, available cargo tonne kilometres (AFTKs) experienced a notable increase of 18.3% compared to the preceding year.

Travel

Chief Customer and Commercial Officer Lavinia Lau said: “Following the peak of the Christmas season, we observed a decline in leisure demand during January, as expected. However, business travel demand resumed after the Christmas holiday; in particular, our Chinese Mainland routes performed exceptionally well, with very encouraging load factors in the premium cabins. Both inbound and outbound traffic to the Philippines experienced strong demand, especially for Christmas return traffic to destinations such as Dubai, New York, Los Angeles, London, and Amsterdam. As a result, the Philippines route emerged as a star performer this month with a load factor of close to 90%, surpassing all other short-haul routes. As Lunar New Year fell in the first half of February, we began to witness a noticeable increase in holiday demand from the Chinese Mainland towards the latter part of January. This demand was for travel both to Hong Kong and beyond.

Cargo

“Demand for air cargo traditionally softens in January after the year-end peak period and our tonnage was down 11% compared with December 2023. However, when compared with January 2023, tonnage was up by 21%. Demand started to improve from the second week of January and we observed an increase in tonnage across our entire network. Perishable shipments were the bright spot especially from the Southwest Pacific to Asia. 

Outlook

“On the travel side, we have seen solid demand during the Lunar New Year travel peak, with outbound travel from Hong Kong focused on 7 to 12 February, and inbound travel concentrated on 17 and 18 February. Business travel demand has also been picking up after the Lunar New Year period, particularly on long-haul routes.

“In terms of cargo, the strong demand continued through to the start of the Lunar New Year holiday, but has now begun to ease. Looking ahead to March, Cathay Cargo will be the host airline for IATA’s World Cargo Symposium 2024. This is the first time that Hong Kong will host this major annual IATA event, which is scheduled to take place from 12 to 14 March. We eagerly look forward to welcoming experts and leaders from across the air cargo and logistics industry to our home city.”

On February 14, 2024, the Cathay Group fulfilled its commitment by issuing the latest dividend, amounting to approximately HK$243.8 million, to the Hong Kong SAR Government for the preference shares it holds. With this payment, the total dividends disbursed to the Hong Kong SAR Government by the Cathay Group surpass HK$2.2 billion to date. The Group initiated a buyback of 50% of the preference shares in December 2023 and aims to complete the repurchase of the remaining preference shares by the conclusion of July 2024. However, the realization of this plan is contingent upon market conditions and the operational landscape of the Group at that juncture.

Here’s the provided data organized into a table format:

(Note: “pt” stands for percentage points.)

Here’s the glossary rewritten for clarity:

Terms:

1. **Available Seat Kilometres (ASK):**
– Measurement of passenger seat capacity, represented by the number of seats available for passengers on each route multiplied by the distance of that route.

2. **Available Tonne Kilometres (ATK):**
– ATK represents the total capacity available for passengers, excess baggage, and cargo on a given route. It is calculated by multiplying the weight capacity (in tonnes) by the distance of the route in kilometres.

3. **Available Freight Tonne Kilometres (AFTK):**
– Cargo capacity measurement in tonnes available for freight transportation on each route multiplied by the distance of that route.

4. **Revenue Passenger Kilometres (RPK):**
– Number of passengers carried on each route multiplied by the distance of that route.

5. **Revenue Freight Tonne Kilometres (RFTK):**
– Amount of cargo, measured in tonnes, carried on each route multiplied by the distance of that route.

Ratio:

Passenger/Cargo Load Factor = (Revenue Passenger Kilometres / Revenue Freight Tonne Kilometres) / (Available Seat Kilometres / Available Cargo Tonne Kilometres)

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