Cathay Group February traffic up, March bookings robust despite Middle East suspensions

Cathay also added extra flights to London and increased capacity to Zurich.

The Cathay Group said it carried 3.2 million passengers in February, up 24% from February 2025, with a single-day record of 128,000 passengers on 14 February.

Cathay Pacific carried 2.56 million, a 24.3% increase year on year, as available seat kilometres rose 15.9% and the passenger load factor reached 85.6%, the press release added.

Lunar New Year holidays drove outbound travel from Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area to short-haul destinations, whilst inbound traffic from long-haul markets and the Chinese Mainland increased. Business travel bookings also picked up toward the end of the month.

HK Express carried 730,402 passengers, up 24.7%, with a load factor of 86.2%, as demand for routes to South Korea, Malaysia, and the Chinese Mainland exceeded capacity growth.

"Turning to March, the global geopolitical environment is volatile and this is causing unexpected shifts in passenger and cargo traffic flows," Cathay Chief Customer and Commercial Officer Lavinia Lau said in a statement.

Despite uncertainties, the group said its Cathay Pacific bookings in March are robust, driven by leisure travel across Asia; whilst its HK Express bookings remain healthy with demand utpacing capacity increase compared with last year. 

Cathay also added extra flights to London and increased capacity to Zurich during the month to cater for a surge in demand for Europe amid airspace closures in the Middle East. 

Meanwhile, Cathay Cargo, which carried 127,442 tonnes in February, up 6.5% year on year, whilst available freight tonne kilometres rose 4.4%, the press release said.

Tonnage declined from January due to the Lunar New Year holidays, though demand remained supported by shipments such as live lobsters from Oceania to Hong Kong and secure cargo flows from Europe and the Americas to Asia.

The group expects Cathay Cargo to see improved demand as it ramps up scheduled freighter frequencies.

This is even as it suspended passenger and freighter services to Dubai and Riyadh until 30 April 2026.