According to CaiLian Press on August 7th, the market's passenger flights have increased, and Cathay Pacific Airlines' flight volume in the second quarter has recovered to 80% of pre-epidemic levels, and the yield rate has trended towards normal.

Cathay Pacific Airways CEO Lin Shaobo revealed at the performance briefing today that the revenue growth of peak season ticket prices for travel in July and August meets the company's expectations. Short-haul ticket prices have returned to normal in recent months, and long-haul ticket prices have decreased by more than 20% YoY, but the normalization of ticket prices on China Hong Kong-US and Canada routes is relatively slow.

Regarding the slow downward adjustment of ticket prices on US routes, Lin Shaobo stated that the resumption of direct flights from mainland China to the United States is not fast, and therefore many mainland Chinese passengers will choose to travel through Cathay Pacific Airways, which has a very high overall demand. The company is also working hard to increase US flights. When US flights further increase, ticket prices will also normalize further.

Today, Cathay Pacific Airways announced its interim results. According to the results, in the first half of 2024, Jiangxi Guotai Group achieved revenue of HK$49.604 billion, a year-on-year increase of 13.8%; attributable profit of HK$3.6 billion, down 15.3% YoY.

In terms of business segments, Cathay Pacific Airways passenger revenue increased to HK$30.017 billion in the first half of this year, a YoY increase of 20%. The passengers carried increased by 42.7% when measured in available seat kilometers, and passenger traffic increased by 34.9% when measured in revenue passenger kilometers. In the first half of 2024, Cathay Pacific Airways carried a total of 10.7 million passengers, with an average of about 0.059 million passengers per day, a YoY increase of 36.4%. The load factor was 82.4%.

Cathay Pacific Airways cargo revenue was HK$10.902 billion in the first half of 2024, a YoY increase of 1.5%. When measured in available cargo tonne kilometers, the available cargo volume increased by 11.4%. When measured in revenue tonne kilometers, the cargo volume increased by 4.6%, the overall cargo tonnage increased by 10.4%, and the load factor was 59.9% (63.8% for the first half of 2023). The revenue rate fell by 2.9%.

It is worth noting that its subsidiary, Cathay Pacific Express, lost HKD 73 million during the reporting period. The reason given by Cathay Pacific Airways is that the increase in the carrying capacity of regional routes in the market has made the yield rate tend to be normal, coupled with the problem of Pratt & Whitney engines, most of the Airbus A320neo aircraft of the airline were grounded, both of which have a negative impact on its performance.

In response to this, Lin Shaobo, CEO of Jiangxi Guotai Group, said that in the short-term, Cathay Pacific Express faces price competition from low-cost airline companies on short-haul routes to Hong Kong and overseas. But the company believes that Cathay Pacific Express can continue to bring customers to more destinations and will continue to invest in it to grow Cathay Pacific Express's business.

Regarding the impact of falling ticket prices on Cathay Pacific Airways' revenue, He Yili, the chairman of Jiangxi Guotai Group, believes that the normalization of ticket prices is within the company's expectations, and the entire international civil aviation market will experience a situation where ticket prices go from high to low. The normalization of ticket prices will not have a major impact on the company's yield rate.

Today, Cathay Pacific Airways also announced its investment plan. Jiangxi Guotai Group will invest more than 100 billion Hong Kong dollars in the next seven years in accordance with its strategy of active development to further improve customer experience and cooperate with the construction of the airport's three runway system to consolidate Hong Kong's position as an international aviation hub. This investment includes fleet, cabin products, VIP rooms, digital upgrades, and sustainable development, etc.

Cathay Pacific Airways management stated that the reconstruction after the epidemic has already "turned the page", and the company's flight volume will be restored to 100% of pre-epidemic levels in the first quarter of next year. Coupled with the three runway system of Hong Kong airport set to be put into use at the end of this year, the company believes that the three runway system will drive Hong Kong aviation into a new era, which is a must-invest for Cathay Pacific Airways' future development.

Among them, in terms of fleet, Cathay Pacific Airways announced today that it has ordered 30 Airbus A330-900 passenger aircraft, with the option to purchase an additional 30. This regionally large passenger aircraft is expected to be delivered starting from 2028 and will mainly serve Cathay Pacific Airways' Asian routes.