Cathay Pacific flew more than 50,000 passengers in one day over Easter for the first time since the pandemic.
The milestone was reached on April 9 when 53,233 passengers were carried.
The spike over the Easter holidays followed the Hong Kong-based group, comprising Cathay Pacific and HK Express, reaching 50% of pre-Covid capacity in March with more than 70 destinations being served by the end of the month.
The passenger load factor surpassed 90% last month, reflecting ongoing strong demand for travel.
Total carryings were up to 1.3 million in the month, a rise of more than 4,200% over March 2022.
Chief customer and commercial officer Lavinia Lau said: “The first quarter of 2023 has been one of continued improvement for our travel business as we maintain our focus on reconnecting Hong Kong with the world.
“Cathay Pacific’s passenger numbers continued to increase month on month in March, growing 19% to more than 1.3 million compared with February.
“We resumed services to three more destinations – Shanghai Hongqiao airport, Haikou and Nagoya in March. Hongqiao in particular saw huge demand for both business and leisure travel.
“Our Japan and South Korea flights benefited from good passenger traffic for the cherry blossom season and demand ahead of the Easter holiday.
“Demand between Hong Kong and Taiwan was similarly strong, including transit traffic from Taiwan to Europe and Indonesia via the Hong Kong hub.
“We were also delighted to bring back more customer experience highlights, with first class returning on select flights on our Beijing and Los Angeles routes, and our airport lounges in Bangkok, Beijing and Manila also reopening, all of which were very welcomed by our customers who missed those special Cathay touches over the past three years.
“Regarding our travel business, we continued to see strong demand into the Easter holidays, reflecting positive and robust sentiment for travel.
“On April 9, we broke the 50,000 mark for the first time since the pandemic, carrying 53,233 passengers on that day.
“We are actively working to add more flights to our schedule to satisfy customer demand, in particular between Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland.
“Between now and the end of October, the number of return flights will be progressively increased to about 160 per week, covering 16 airports in 15 cities.
“This includes four return flights per day to Beijing, six return flights per day to Shanghai Pudong airport and nine return flights per week to Shanghai Hongqiao airport.