The Cathay Group Releases Traffic Figures for July 2026

Maintaining healthy momentum across our passenger and cargo businesses

The Cathay Group today released its traffic figures for July 2026.

Cathay Chief Customer and Commercial Officer Lavinia Lau said: "Marking the start of the traditional summer travel peak, July saw continued year-on-year growth in passenger traffic. Cathay Pacific and HK Express together carried around 3.5 million passengers, representing a 9% increase compared with the same period last year. Cargo also continued to see tonnage growth with Cathay Cargo carrying around 149,000 tonnes of cargo, a 6% increase year on year. However, jet fuel prices increased again in July due to the escalation of tensions in the Middle East, following a period of decreasing jet fuel prices in the previous months."

Cathay Pacific
Cathay Pacific carried 9% more passengers in July 2026 compared with July 2025, while Available Seat Kilometres (ASKs) increased by 5%. In the first seven months of 2026, the number of passengers carried increased by 16% compared with the same period for 2025.

Lavinia said: "We observed robust leisure travel demand across our network in July. The first half of the month was driven by long-haul traffic from students and those visiting friends and relatives, followed by leisure travel to regional destinations in the second half as the summer holiday period began. Looking ahead, summer travel demand is looking strong. Our recent '80th AnniFAREsary' promotional campaign was also well received by customers in our home market, further supporting demand."

Cathay Cargo
Cathay Cargo carried 6% more cargo in July 2026 than in July 2025, while Available Freight Tonne Kilometres (AFTKs) were at a similar level. In the first seven months of 2026, the total tonnage increased by 8% compared with the same period for 2025.

Lavinia said: "Cargo demand remained resilient across our network, with strong growth from Northeast Asia and Southeast Asia. Our specialist solutions continued to perform well, with Cathay Expert benefitting from robust semiconductor flows within Asia, while Cathay Dangerous Goods was boosted by increased lithium battery shipments from Northeast Asia and the Greater Bay Area.

"Looking ahead, while we expect the summer holiday period will affect demand on certain routes, we anticipate that demand for technology shipments will remain robust. We will deploy additional freighter capacity to the Americas starting this month to meet customer demand, along with additional freighter capacity from Air Hong Kong on selected regional routes later this year."

HK Express
HK Express carried around 760,000 passengers in July 2026, an increase of 10% year on year, while Available Seat Kilometers (ASKs) increased by 8%. In the first seven months of 2026, the number of passengers carried increased by 10% compared with the same period for 2025.

Lavinia said: "Entering the summer travel peak, HK Express's Thailand and Chinese Mainland routes were particularly popular in July. Our newly launched daily direct service to Wuxi has also been well received by customers with the route seeing strong load factors. Turning to August, summer travel demand remains robust and bookings continue to track healthily."

Glossary

Terms:

Available Seat Kilometres (“ASK”)
Passenger seat capacity, measured in seats available for the carriage of passengers on each sector multiplied by the sector distance.

Available Freight Tonne Kilometres (“AFTK”)
Cargo capacity measured in tonnes available for the carriage of freight on each sector multiplied by the sector distance.

Revenue Passenger Kilometres (“RPK”)
Number of passengers carried on each sector multiplied by the sector distance.

Revenue Freight Tonne Kilometres (“RFTK”)
Amount of cargo, measured in tonnes, carried on each sector multiplied by the sector distance.