Cathay Pacific reports big increase in November traffic; restarts First Class rollout
20 December, 2022
Cathay Pacific carried 526,827 passengers in November, an increase of 652.1% compared with November 2021, but a 79.9% decrease compared with November 2019.
The month’s revenue passenger kilometers (RPKs) increased 565.5% year-on-year, down 73.7% versus November 2019.
Passenger load factor increased by 51.7 percentage points to 78.5%, while capacity, measured in available seat kilometers (ASKs), increased by 127.2% year-on-year, a decrease of 73.1% compared with November 2019.
In the first 11 months of 2022, the number of passengers carried increased by 220.5% against a 33.9% increase in capacity and a 211.9% increase in RPKs, as compared with the same period for 2021.
“We continue to see positive signs for our travel business. Sentiment and demand for travel out of Hong Kong continued to improve in November. We also saw increased visiting
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friends and relatives (VFR) traffic into Hong Kong, particularly from long-haul origins such as North America, Europe and the South West Pacific. Transit traffic via the Hong Kong hub also improved as we grow our network of destinations,” said Ronald Lam, Chief Customer and Commercial Officer.“On average, we carried about 17,600 passengers a day in November, up from around 13,000 in October. Passenger flight capacity increased about 16% versus the previous month. Overall, we operated 27% of pre-pandemic capacity levels in November. We continued to add more flights to more destinations last month, in particular to and from popular places in Japan as well as Southeast Asia, which saw huge demand from Hong Kong. As expected, Japan was our top destination in terms of passenger numbers while load factor on these flights stayed high at 86%. November also saw the resumption of passenger flights to Denpasar (Bali), Tokyo (Haneda) and Zurich.”
Cathay Pacific has partnered with Bamford to provide First Class passengers with 600-thread count sustainably sourced cotton bedlinen, men’s and women’s natural skincare products, and amenity kits.
Customers can select their choice of pillow from the pillow menu and, when they are ready for their turndown service, cabin crew will transform their space into one of the softest beds in the sky.
First Class passengers can dine at their preferred time choosing from a wide variety of dishes that include not just hearty favorites, but more nutritious wellness options and authentic Hong Kong dishes.
The airline has sourced some of the best ingredients from producers that support sustainable and ethical practices, including pork from Dingley Dell Farm, certified sustainable Nordic Skrei cod, organic free-range eggs from Sunny Queen Farms in Australia, and more.
Customers flying First Class from Hong Kong before Dec 31 will also be able to enjoy Cathay Pacific's special Christmas-themed menus.
The First Class dining service is complemented by contemporary tableware, including chinaware from Noritake, cutlery from Robert Welch and restaurant-range wine glasses from Riedel.
To celebrate the return of its First Class service, Cathay Pacific is introducing a celebratory limited edition Krug 2004 Vintage Champagne from the House of Krug as well as a special celebratory edition of Blanc de Lynch-Bages 2018 and Château Lynch-Bages 2000. Available in First Class on flights to and from London in December, this special offering celebrates the airline’s long-standing partnership with House of Krug and Château Lynch-Bages, with whom it has partnered since 1986 and 1989, respectively.
First Class will return to Cathay Pacific’s Paris flight CX261/CX260 on Jan 18, followed by Tokyo (Haneda) flights CX548/CX549 from Feb 1.
Source: japantoday.com