While commercial aviation's recovery is welcomed in all parts of the world, perhaps one of the most significant and heartwarming is the strong return of Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific. No region's airlines or airport have endured the predicament Hong Kong found itself in, overcoming the double hit of devastating political unrest and the draconian COVID-19 lockdowns to emerge well on the way to full recovery.

Last year was when global aviation started to turn positive, but not for Cathay Pacific, with the group, which includes HK Express, carrying just 40,823 passengers in April 2022, which was nearly double what it carried in April 2021. By comparison, in 2019 the group, which then comprised Cathay Pacific Airlines and Cathay Dragon, carried 3.13 million passengers in the same month, clearly showing the depths to which it had plunged as recently as twelve months ago.

Good progress with plenty of upside left

With travel restrictions virtually a thing of the past and the reopening of mainland China, Cathay Pacific (Cathay) is quickly springing back into life, as is its home of Hong Kong International Airport (HKG). Last month the group carried 1.38 million passengers, a 3,283% increase year-on-year, at an impressive passenger load factor of 86.9% compared to 56% last year.

Capacity in April, as measured by available seat kilometers (ASKs), rose from 306,000 last year to 6.34 million this year, still a long way short of the 13.49 million on offer in April 2019. Cathay Pacific chief customer and commercial officer Lavinia Lau said that April was a busy month as many customers looked to enjoy a getaway during the holiday period.

"Passenger demand was especially strong over the Easter holiday in the early part of the month, and on 9 April, we recorded our highest number of passengers on a single day since the start of the pandemic, carrying 53,233 in total.

"Meanwhile we continued to increase our passenger flight capacity and add more frequencies to destinations in Europe, Southeast Asia, Australia and Japan. Demand for premium class seats has also been positive, driven by both corporate and leisure travel."

Also boosting demand was a mid-April surge in Indonesia following the end of Ramadan, with Cathay adding more flights from Jakarta and Surabaya to meet that demand. Further momentum to the rebound was the Labor Day and Golden Week holiday period in Mainland China.

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Rest of 2023 looks promising

The impact of China's reopening is now starting to filter through to airlines in Asia-Pacific, but there is still much ground to be recovered, signaling plenty of opportunities for Cathay for the rest of this year. In April 2019 Cathay had 980,000 ASKs compared to 360,000 this year, so China is certainly a market that will quickly add more positive returns to the airline's performance in coming months.

Looking ahead Lau said the airline is progressively increasing passenger flight capacity as it approaches the peak summer travels season. She added:

"In terms of destinations we look forward to resuming our Johannesburg service from 1 August with three return flights a week, and from 3 October we will be resuming our Chicago service with three return flights per week, bringing our total number of destinations in North America to seven and further expanding our connectivity with the region."

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  Cathay Pacific

  IATA/ICAO Code:

  CX/CPA

  Airline Type:

  Full Service Carrier

  Hub(s):

  Hong Kong International Airport

  Year Founded:

  1946

  Alliance:

  oneworld

  CEO:

  Ronald Lam

  Country:

  China (Special Administrative Region)

  Region:

  Asia