Cathay Cargo recorded volume growth last month, driven by exports from Hong Kong, the Chinese mainland and key regional markets. The carrier also reported stronger demand for its specialist products, especially into Northeast Asia and from South America.
The freight arm of Hong Kong flag carrier Cathay Pacific, carried 157,472 tonnes of cargo in November, representing a 10% increase compared to the same month in 2024.
Month-on-month, November's cargo volume was also higher than the over 150,000 tonnes recorded in October.
This is also higher than the 139,821 tonnes carried in August and the 140,156 tonnes in July as well as the 132,462 tonnes transported in June 2025 and the 135,807 tonnes of cargo handled in May.
Cathay Cargo said available freight tonne kilometres (AFTKs) in November also increased by 7%.
In the first 11 months of 2025, the total tonnage increased by 10% compared with the same period for 2024.
"Our cargo business continued to record month-on-month and year-on-year growth in November, driven by solid exports from our home market and the Chinese Mainland, alongside growth across our Southeast Asia and South Asia, Middle East and Africa routes," said Lavinia Lau, chief customer and commercial officer at Cathay.
"Our specialist solutions also performed well, with Cathay Priority maintaining strong demand into Northeast Asia, and Cathay Expert and Cathay Fresh experiencing boosts within Northeast Asia and from South America," she added.
Looking into 2025's peak season, Lau eyes continued cargo demand growth through the end of the year.
"We are seeing a robust air cargo peak that is expected to continue into December," she said. "While we will begin scaling back our peak-season freighter schedule from the middle of the month as overall demand starts to ease, core demand on our key trade lanes is expected to hold up well."
Better 2025 performance vs. 2024
Meanwhile, the Cathay Group — which also includes Cathay Pacific and HK Express — projects a strong second-half financial result driven by increased capacity, solid passenger load factors and resilient cargo demand. This is partially offset by losses made by HK Express mainly due to various factors that negatively impacted travel demand to Japan.
The results from the Group's associates, the majority of which are recognised three months in arrears, are expected to improve in the second half of 2025 as compared to the first half.
Additionally, the Group's second-half result includes Other Income of approximately HK$0.9 billion arising from a non‑recurring gain on a supplier settlement agreement.
"With respect to the Cathay Group's consolidated 2025 full-year financial result, the second half of the year has historically been the stronger of the two halves for the Group and this has been the case this year as it was in 2024," Cathay said in the announcement.
"Overall, the Group's full‑year consolidated financial result is expected to exceed last year's solid performance."
