Cathay Pacific on Tuesday (Jun 14) released its traffic figures for May 2022. As the recent adjustments to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government’s travel restrictions and quarantine requirements became effective in phases, the airline’s May 2022 traffic figures started to reflect the positive impact of those changes.
Cathay Pacific carried a total of 57,982 passengers last month, an increase of 141.5% compared to May 2021, but a 98% decrease compared to the pre-pandemic level in May 2019. The month’s revenue passenger kilometres (RPKs) increased 164.4% year-on-year but were down 97.1% versus May 2019. Passenger load factor increased by 33.7 percentage points to 60.5%, while capacity, measured in available seat kilometres (ASKs), increased by 16.8% year-on-year, but decreased by 96% compared with May 2019 levels. In the first five months of 2022, the number of passengers carried increased by 59.1% against a 48.5% decrease in capacity and a 49.3% increase in RPKs, as compared to the same period for 2021.
The airline carried 92,426 tonnes of cargo last month, a similar level as May 2021, but a 45.1% decrease compared with the same period in 2019. The month’s cargo revenue tonne-kilometres (RFTKs) decreased 32.5% year-on-year and were down 59.9% compared to May 2019. The cargo load factor decreased by 5.3 percentage points to 75.7%, while capacity, measured in available cargo tonne-kilometres (AFTKs), was down by 27.7% year-on-year, and was down by 66.1% versus May 2019. In the first five months of 2022, the tonnage decreased by 4.3% against a 38.9% decrease in capacity and a 41% decrease in RFTKs, as compared to the same period for 2021.
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Chief Customer and Commercial Officer Ronald Lam said: “The introduction of further adjustments to travel restrictions and quarantine requirements in Hong Kong from 1 May was a welcome development, although our business during the month remained constrained. We increased our passenger flight capacity by 78% compared with April, but we still only operated about 4% of our pre-pandemic levels. Traffic volume in terms of RPK increased 94% month on month, and this was driven primarily by long-haul flights. As a result, the overall load factor reached 60.5%.
“The additional passenger flight capacity we mounted in May provided better connectivity for our transit passengers, particularly those travelling from the Chinese Mainland to long-haul destinations such as the US, Europe and Australia. Demand for inbound flights to Hong Kong saw substantial growth, driven by pent-up demand out of North America, the UK and Europe. We also resumed flights to India last month with services to Delhi and Mumbai. On the other hand, we continued to operate limited frequencies into the Chinese Mainland to comply with ongoing capacity restrictions.
