HONG KONG – Cathay Pacific carried 36.3 percent more passengers and 13.6 percent more cargo in April this year compared with the month last year, according to the latest figures released by the airline.

During the month, its capacity – measured in available seat kilometers – also rose 27.1 percent, the Hong Kong flag carrier’s traffic figures for April show.

In the first four months of this year, the number of passengers carried increased by 26.6 percent compared with the same period for 2024, Cathay added.

READ MORE: Cathay Pacific records 19.8% increase in passengers in March

“Following a quieter month in March, leisure travel demand experienced a boost in April,” said Cathay’s Chief Customer and Commercial Officer Lavinia Lau.

After the Hong Kong Sevens and the festive period in Indonesia generated strong demand for return traffic early in the month, came a notable increase in travel demand over Easter, she said, adding that a robust pre-holiday demand from the Chinese mainland and Japan coincided with the respective ‘Golden Week’ holidays in those two markets towards the end of April.

“The various holidays in Hong Kong, the Chinese mainland and elsewhere in Asia helped drive strong leisure travel demand, and over the Easter travel peak we were pleased to once again set a new post-pandemic record with Cathay Pacific and HK Express carrying more than 115,000 passengers combined on April 18,” said Lau.

HK Express is a budget carrier which Cathay Pacific acquired in 2019.

As a Group, Cathay is continuing to add more ports to its extensive passenger network, having launched flights to five new destinations in April – Dallas-Fort Worth and Urumqi for Cathay Pacific, and Nha Trang, Ishigaki, and Komatsu for HK Express, she said, adding that the airline was focused on reaching 100 passenger destinations within the first half of the year.

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“On the cargo front, the latest announcements regarding the tariffs between China and the United States provide some reassurance to the market in the near term.”

In April, Cathay’s available freight ton kilometers increased by 8.9 percent while the load factor decreased by 1.1 percentage points year-on-year. In the first four months of this year, the total tonnage increased by 12.4 percent compared with the same period last year.

“Tonnage in April was 10.4 percent lower than in March, primarily due to the traditional first quarter-end peak in March and the various holiday periods in April,” said Lau.

Meanwhile, HK Express carried more than 690,000 passengers in April, marking an increase of 47.4 percent year-on-year, while available seat kilometers grew by 42 percent.

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In the first four months of this year, the number of passengers it carried rose by 37.6 percent compared with the same period for 2024.

“Buoyed by the long weekend holidays in April, HK Express carried a record number of passengers and operated a record number of flight sectors while continuing to expand its network,” Lau said, adding that extra sectors to popular destinations like Bangkok, Seoul, and Phu Quoc were added over the Ching Ming Festival and Easter amidst strong demand.