Cathay Pacific and sister carrier HK Express carried more than two million passengers in January, averaging more than 70,000 a day.
Last month’s figures show Cathay Pacific handling carried a total of 1.7 million passengers, up by 66.4% compared on January 2023.
The passenger load factor dropped by four percentage points to 82.8% as capacity rose by 64.2% year-on-year.
Cathay Pacific Group chief customer and commercial officer Lavinia Lau said: “Following the peak of the Christmas season, we observed a decline in leisure demand during January, as expected.
“However, business travel demand resumed after the Christmas holiday; in particular, our Chinese mainland routes performed exceptionally well, with very encouraging load factors in the premium cabins.
“Both inbound and outbound traffic to the Philippines experienced strong demand, especially for Christmas return traffic to destinations such as Dubai, New York, Los Angeles, London, and Amsterdam.”
She added: “As Lunar New Year fell in the first half of February, we began to witness a noticeable increase in holiday demand from the Chinese mainland towards the latter part of January. This demand was for travel both to Hong Kong and beyond.
“We have seen solid demand during the Lunar New Year travel peak, with outbound travel from Hong Kong focused on 7 to 12 February, and inbound travel concentrated on 17 and 18 February.
“Business travel demand has also been picking up after the Lunar New Year period, particularly on long-haul routes.”