Cathay Pacific: Looking for a way out of the pandemic
The aviation industry has largely recovered since the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, but not all airlines have bounced back equally quickly. Cathay Pacific, once a symbol of excellence and efficiency in Asian air travel, continues to struggle with the aftermath of the global crisis. While the Hong Kong-based company's current traffic figures show progress, a full return to pre-pandemic capacities will still take some time. While many other airlines are already operating at pre-pandemic levels, Cathay Pacific still faces major challenges. Cathay Pacific recently released its traffic figures for May, and it is evident that the airline is still struggling with the effects of the pandemic. In May 2024, Cathay Pacific carried 1,68 million passengers at a load factor of 80,3%, an increase of 18,4% year-on-year. Despite this growth, Cathay Pacific remains behind 2019 figures. The combination of Cathay Pacific and HK Express carried a total of 2024 million passengers in the first five months of 11,2. For comparison, in the same period in 2019, Cathay Pacific and its now-defunct subsidiary Cathay Dragon carried 15,2 million passengers. The integration of HK Express and the closure of Cathay Dragon make direct comparisons of pre-pandemic figures difficult. However, even taking these factors into account, the combined passenger numbers of Cathay Pacific and HK Express in the first five months of 2024 only reached 74% of the passenger numbers of Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon