The Cathay Group has completed its two-year rebuilding journey, with its focus now firmly on adding more flights and destinations to reinforce Hong Kong’s international aviation hub status.

In the full year of 2024, the Cathay Group achieved new post-pandemic highs for total passengers and cargo carried.

Cathay Pacific and HK Express carried a combined total of more than 28 million passengers, marking an increase of 30.7% year on year.

Cathay Pacific carried a total of 2,248,950 passengers in December 2024, an increase of 26.4% compared with December 2023.

The month’s revenue passenger kilometers (RPKs) increased 27.9% year on year, while the passenger load factor increased by 3.6 percentage points to 84.8%, while available seat kilometers (ASKs) increased by 22.5% year on year.

Cathay Pacific Chief Customer and Commercial Officer, Lavinia Lau, said: “December is the traditional peak season for our travel business as customers visit friends and relatives, and travel for leisure over the Christmas and New Year holidays.

“In 2024, we achieved a significant milestone during the year-end travel peak with Cathay Pacific and HK Express together carrying more than 100,000 passengers in a single day — the most since the start of our rebuild — on a total of eight days.

“In addition, our premium cabins experienced high demand leading up to the holiday season, reflecting a surge in business-related travel before the end of the year. December also saw the resumption of our seasonal service to Cairns, which operates three flights per week and has been well received by customers.

“Overall in 2024, we continued to leverage our global network and the strategic advantages of the Hong Kong hub to attract more transit passengers, in particular those travelling between the Chinese Mainland and cities around the world.”