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Cathay Pacific passenger numbers jump by nearly a fifth in May
June 24th 2026
Cathay Pacific reported flying 2.7 million passengers in May, up 18.5% from 2.3 million flown in the same month last year. Read More » Capacity, or available seat kilometres (ASK), rose 13% and demand, measured by revenue passenger kilometres (RPK), was 16.8% higher in the month. Passenger load factor improved 2.9 percentage points to 86.8%, Cathay said in a regulatory filing. “May got off to a strong start, supported by solid traffic as passengers from across Asia returned from their Golden Week and other holiday travels at the beginning of the month,” Cathay chief customer and commercial officer, Lavinia Lau, said. “Our premium cabins continued to see high demand from business and premium leisure travel. Looking ahead, the outlook for the summer travel peak remains positive, particularly on our long-haul routes, while bookings for short-haul destinations are accelerating.”
Cathay’s sister carrier, LCC HK Express, grew its passenger numbers 12.3%, to 674,397, in the 31 days, with capacity 9.8% higher and passenger load factor up 1.3 percentage points at 75.4%.
