Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific predicts reaching 50 per cent of pre-Covid capacity by month’s end after passenger numbers hit million mark in February

Airline says passenger numbers improved after Lunar New Year holiday and end of coronavirus restrictions

Cargo business also improved by almost 60 per cent year on year in February, airline’s chief customer and commercial officer says

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Cathay Pacific predicts 50 per cent of normal passenger traffic by the end of the month. Photo: Jelly Tse

Published: 10:43pm, 16 Mar 2023Updated: 1:30am, 17 Mar 2023

Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific Airways predicted on Thursday it would reach 50 per cent of pre-Covid flight capacity by the end of the month after passenger numbers logged in February passed the million mark in the wake of the cancellation of the last pandemic restrictions.

The city’s flagship carrier carried 1.1 million passengers last month – 34 times the 31,253 people who flew with the airline in the same month last year.

Lavinia Lau, Cathay Pacific’s chief customer and commercial officer, said the airline had made good progress in increasing its capacity and rebuilding connectivity at the city’s airport.

“Passenger numbers further improved after the Lunar New Year holiday. We carried more than 1.1 million passengers last month averaging almost 40,000 per day,” Lau said.

Passengers queue at the Cathay Pacific check-in desk in busier times. Photo: Yik Yeung-man

“By the end of March, the Cathay Group will be operating at around 50 per cent of pre-pandemic passenger flight capacity, covering more than 70 destinations,” she added.

Hong Kong scrapped almost all Covid-19 measures last December, including mandatory tests for arrivals.