Cathay passenger, cargo traffic see double-digit rise amidst fuel costs

Cathay Pacific posted an 86.8% passenger load factor in the month.

Cathay Group’s passenger and cargo traffic saw double-digit growth in May against a backdrop of high jet fuel prices.

The group carried over 3.3 million passengers during the month, up 14% from a year earlier, whilst cargo volume rose 11% to more than 150,000 tonnes.

Cathay Pacific carried 2.67 million passengers, a 16.8% increase from May 2025. Available seat kilometres rose 10.4%, whilst revenue passenger kilometres increased 13.1%.

The carrier’s passenger load factor rose 2.0 percentage points to 86.8%.

For the first five months of 2026, the airlines carried 13.42 million passengers, up about 19% from the same period last year.

Meanwhile, HK Express carried 674,397 passengers in May, up 4.8% year-on-year. Its available seat kilometres rose 4%, whilst revenue passenger kilometres increased 5.7%.

The low-cost carrier’s passenger load factor rose 1.3 percentage points to 75.4%. In the first five months, it carried 3.6 million passengers, up 12.3%.

Cathay Cargo carried 150.1 million kilograms of cargo, up 10.5%. Available freight tonne kilometres rose 6.1%, whilst revenue freight tonne kilometres increased 6.7%.

Cargo load factor stood at 59.8%, up 0.3 percentage points. For the first five months, cargo carried rose 8.4% to 724.2 million kilograms.