Cathay Pacific says it has seen an uptick in passenger volume during July.
Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon carried a total of nearly 43,000 passengers last month, up from just 27,106 passengers in June.
Still, it is 98.7% down on pre-pandemic levels for the time of year.
The airline group attributes increased transit traffic for boosting the numbers.
"Passenger volume showed signs of slight improvement in the beginning of July, fuelled by a boost in the number of transit passengers via Hong Kong. We increased our passenger flights by a slight amount to approximately 7 per cent of the normal capacity, up from about 4 per cent in June," Cathay Pacific Group Chief Customer and Commercial Officer Ronald Lam said.
Cathay added capacity but demand is still weak with load factors declining.
The airline is adding a little more capacity in August and has just restarted transit services at Hong Kong for connections to and from mainland China.
"This will help enhance our passenger volume via the Hong Kong hub, and offer essential connections from the Chinese mainland to different parts of the world," Lam added.
The airline has been hit particularly hard by the Covid-19 crisis and recently posted a US$1.27 billion half-year loss.
Written by Ray Montgomery, Asia Pacific editor
