Cathay Pacific is going into the first Christmas season since Hong Kong fully re-opened its borders after the pandemic.
Strong travel demand is forecast for this month after November carryings rose by 210% year-on-year to more than 1.6 million passengers.
The passenger load factor rose by 2.1 percentage points to 80.5%.
Chief customer and commercial officer Lavinia Lau said: “November is typically a slower month for our travel business. Our routes to and from the United States saw reduced demand before Thanksgiving week with less business and leisure travel around the holiday period.
“As there were no public holidays in November, leisure travel from Hong Kong across the network was also generally softer.
“Nevertheless, there were some bright spots within the network, including our India routes which saw strong Diwali traffic. Our Japan routes also saw good leisure demand for the autumn leaves.”
She added: “This December will mark the first Christmas holiday period since Hong Kong’s borders fully reopened and we are very pleased to see that travel demand remains strong.
“Our seasonal Christchurch service returned this month – it was our first seasonal restart since the pandemic and the response from our customers has been encouraging.
We are also delighted to be bringing back our first class service on our popular New York JFK flights starting from 31 March 2024.”