Secretary for Transport and Logistics Mable Chan said a local airline will announce to launch direct flights to Almaty, Kazakhstan, today, with sources saying that the airline is Cathay Pacific.
This came as Cathay Pacific and HK Express carried a combined 3.5 million passengers in July, a 9 percent year-on-year increase, with demand expected to remain strong throughout the summer peak.
Cathay Pacific alone handled 2.71 million passengers, up 9 percent from a year earlier, while its load factor rose 1.3 percentage points to 87.2 percent. For the first seven months of 2026, passenger numbers climbed by over 16 percent to 18.72 million, with the load factor improving 2.5 percentage points to 87.5 percent.
HK Express carried 757,000 passengers in July, a gain of more than 10 percent, bringing its total for the first seven months to 4.92 million, also up about 10 percent.
Cargo traffic also showed growth, with 149,000 tonnes carried in July, a 6 percent increase, and 1.02 million tonnes handled in the first seven months, up 8 percent.
Cathay’s chief customer and commercial officer Lavinia Lau Hoi-zee said the start of the summer travel season boosted passenger volumes and demand is expected to remain robust.
On the cargo side, she noted continued strong demand for technology products and announced plans to add freighter capacity to the Americas this month, with further increases on regional routes through its subsidiary Air Hong Kong later this year.
The airline group added that rising tensions in the Middle East pushed aviation fuel prices higher in July after several months of decline.
