Cathay Pacific Releases June 2022 Traffic Figures

DALLAS - Today, Cathay Pacific (CX) published its traffic numbers for June 2022. The favorable effects of additional changes to the quarantine regulations and travel restrictions made by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, particularly the circuit-breaker mechanism implemented as of June 1, were still visible in the airline's traffic figures.

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CATHAY PACIFIC B-KQL BOEING 777-367(ER). Photo: Liam Funnell/Airways

Passenger Operations

Last month, CX carried a total of 150,077 passengers, up 269.2% from June 2021 but down 95.2% from the pre-pandemic level in June 2019. Revenue passenger kilometers (RPKs) during the month grew 320.2% over the prior year but decreased by 91.7% from June 2019.

Capacity, measured in available seat kilometers (ASKs), grew by 36.2 percent year-over-year but declined by 89.3% compared to June 2019 levels. The airline's passenger load factor climbed by 45.3 percentage points to 67%.

Compared to the same period in 2021, the number of passengers transported climbed by 113.5% in the first half of 2022, while capacity decreased by 26.6% and RPKs rose by 1298.8%.

Cathay Pacific Cargo B-LJA Boeing 747-8F. Photo: Alberto Cucini/Airways

Cargo Operations

Last month, the airline transported 104,559 tonnes of cargo, down 36.2% from the same time in 2019 and down 4.4% from June 2021. Cargo revenue tonne kilometers (RFTKs) for the month fell 39.1% from June 2019 and 14.6% from the previous year.

The available freight tonne kilometers (AFTKs), a measure of capacity, increased by 0.5% year over year but plummeted by 44.1% compared to June 2019 as the cargo load factor dropped by 12.1 percentage points to 68.4%.

In comparison to the same period in 2021, tonnage fell by 4.3% in the first half of 2022, while capacity and RFTKs fell by 31% and 35.7%, respectively.

Cathay Pacific Cargo B-LJK Boeing 747-867F. Photo: Luca Flores/Airways

Comments from Cathay Pacific

Chief Customer and Commercial Officer Ronald Lam said, “We continued to see positive developments in June following further adjustments to travel restrictions in Hong Kong. As sentiment for travel continued to improve, we resumed more flights to more destinations and deployed additional passenger flight capacity – about 170% more than we did in May – to meet the demand. However, we still only operated about 11% of our pre-pandemic capacity. Load factor increased to 67% and we carried on average more than 5,000 passengers per day."

“For cargo, we resumed our full freighter schedule in June with increased flights to the Americas and Europe. This was complemented by the belly capacity provided by our increased passenger flights as well as more than 600 pairs of regional cargo-only passenger flights. In total, we operated about 56% of our pre-pandemic cargo flight capacity last month."

Lam added, ”Looking ahead, we welcome the Hong Kong SAR Government’s recent decision to suspend the circuit-breaker mechanism effective 7 July, which will help provide customers with far greater certainty and confidence when flying to and transiting via Hong Kong. We are also encouraged that the Government is considering possible adjustments to the number of days inbound travellers will need to spend in designated quarantine hotels after arriving in Hong Kong. We continue to actively add back flight capacity as we work to rebuild our hub and network."

“On the passenger side, we expect travel sentiment will continue to improve over the coming months. Assuming current travel and operating restrictions as at the time of this report remain unchanged, we anticipate we will be able to operate up to about a quarter of our pre-pandemic passenger flight capacity levels by the end of the year. Having said that, the pandemic situation remains highly dynamic and we will need to remain agile with regards to managing our flight capacity."

Featured image: Cathay Pacific 777-300ER B-KQY. Photo: Christian Winter/Airways