A signage for Cathay Pacific Airways at the departures hall of Hong Kong International Airport in Hong Kong, on March 8, 2023. (PHOTO / AP)

Cathay Pacific Airways said on Wednesday it has paid a dividend of HK$292.5 million ($37.4 million) due on preference shares on Aug 14 and said it expects strong travel demand to remain this month.

As per traffic figures for July 2023 released Wednesday, together with HK Express, the Cathay Group as a whole surpassed the milestone of having carried more than two million passengers in a month for the first time since the pandemic.

In the first seven months of 2023, the number of Cathay Pacific's passengers carried increased by 1,622 percent against a 818.9 percent increase in capacity and a 1,149 percent increase in RPKs, as compared with the same period for 2022, according to a statement of the airline

The airline had, in June, said it would pay the deferred dividend of HK$1.5 billion on the preference shares held by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government on June 30.

The payment decision comes as the global air travel industry recovers from border closures and other disruptions cause by the pandemic.

Hong Kong's flagship carrier is close to 60 percent of pre-pandemic passenger flight capacity with strong performance in its cargo business to continue throughout the second half of this year, it said in the release of its monthly traffic on the stock exchange.

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Cathay Pacific carried a total of 1,744,374 passengers in July, an increase of 693.8 percent compared with July 2022. The month’s revenue passenger kilometers (RPKs) increased 421.6 percent year-on-year. Passenger load factor increased by 16 percentage points to 89.3 percent, while capacity, measured in available seat kilometers (ASKs), increased by 328.2 percent year-on-year, according to a Cathay statement.

In the first seven months of 2023, the number of passengers carried increased by 1,622 percent against a 818.9 percent increase in capacity and a 1,149 percent increase in RPKs, as compared with the same period for 2022.

The airline's statement also showed that it carried 115,729 tonnes of cargo last month, an increase of 14.9 percent compared with July 2022. The month’s cargo revenue tonne kilometers (RFTKs) increased 24.6 percent year-on-year. The cargo load factor decreased by 11.2 percentage points to 59.8 percent, while capacity, measured in available cargo tonne kilometers (AFTKs), increased by 47.9 percent year-on-year. 

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In the first seven months of 2023, the tonnage increased by 22.4 percent against a 102.5 percent increase in capacity and a 71.1 percent increase in RFTKs, as compared with the same period for 2022, read the statement.

With Reuters inputs