Cathay passenger traffic jumps 27% in 2025 amid capacity expansion

Dhaka: Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific Airways and its low-cost subsidiary HK Express carried more than 36 million passengers in 2025, marking a strong 27% year-on-year increase, driven by a sharp recovery in travel demand and expanded network capacity.

According to the Cathay Group, the full-service carrier transported 28.87 million passengers last year, up 26.5% from 2024. Meanwhile, HK Express recorded 7.91 million passengers, representing a 29.7% annual growth.

During this period, the total available seat kilometers for both airlines increased by more than 25%, which supported higher traffic volumes.

Passenger numbers remained robust toward the end of the year. Cathay Pacific carried 2.74 million passengers in December, a 21.8% year-on-year increase, and HK Express handled more than 781,000 passengers, a 24.1% increase.

Official data showed Hong Kong welcomed 49.89 million visitors in 2025, an increase of 12% compared with the previous year, providing a strong tailwind for airline demand.

Cathay’s chief customer and commercial officer, Lavinia Lau Hoi-zee, said December performance benefited from peak festive-season travel and solid inbound demand. She highlighted strong traffic flows from North America, Oceania, and the United Kingdom, including returning residents and students.

Lau added that inbound travel from Northeast Asia, Thailand, and India also rose during the year-end holiday period.

Demand for outbound leisure travel was equally strong, especially for destinations across Northeast and Southeast Asia. The Chinese mainland was another big market for the airline. A large number of Hong Kong travelers explored multiple cities in mainland China on Cathay’s network.

In addition to passenger traffic, Cathay Pacific, through its freighter division, Cathay Cargo, transported more than 1.67 million tonnes of cargo in 2025, a 9.4% year-on-year increase.

The group expects softer demand in early January before traffic gradually rebounds ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday.

V