Cathay Pacific flew more than two million passengers in a single month for the first time since the pandemic in July.
The carrier cited demand for long-haul flights to and from its Hong Kong hub in the early part of last month for the 15% year-on-year increase.
While the load factor of 85.5% was the highest of any month this year, it was down 3.8 percentage points on July 2023.
The July figure means that the total number of passengers carried in there first seven months of the year increased by 32.5% to 12.6 million compared with the same period last year.
Chief customer and commercial officer Lavinia Lau said: “Marking the start of the traditional summer travel peak, July was a milestone month for Cathay Pacific as the airline carried over two million passengers for the first time in a single month since our rebuild, while the 85.5% load factor was the highest of any month so far this year.
“Such robust demand was driven by the increased popularity of long-haul flights to and from Hong Kong in the first half of the month among students and those visiting friends and relatives.
“This was followed by a surge in demand for travel to popular short-haul destinations in Japan and Southeast Asia in the second half of July.
“In addition, we saw strong demand for flights to Paris due to the Olympic Games, and we were delighted to carry a significant number of athletes and spectators to attend this momentous sporting occasion.”
She added: “Looking ahead, we expect that the robust travel demand seen in July will continue through August, while September will receive a boost from students returning to the United Kingdom ahead of the new school year.
“Earlier in August, we were delighted to welcome the launch of Cathay Pacific’s new four-times-weekly Ningbo service. These flights have been positively received by our customers, and complement the daily flights already operated by HK Express to and from the city [in China].
“Additionally, HK Express has recently announced the launch of a new route between Hong Kong and Penang, Malaysia, which will commence service on 21 November 2024.
“Our customers can continue to look forward to more exciting destinations being added to our network as we work towards reaching 100 destinations as a group within 2025.