“With respect to the consolidated group result, we expect that the second-half profit in 2023 will surpass the result from the first half and that the group will achieve a consolidated profit for the overall year, which will be our first profitable year since 2019.”

She said that Cathay, including low-cost unit HK Express, had recorded a better performance in the second half of the year compared with the first.

The group said it was on track to meet its target of operating at 70 per cent of pre-pandemic passenger flights covering 80 destinations in December.

“Our priority has first and foremost been on facilitating Hong Kong people travelling from and visitors coming to Hong Kong,” Sharpe said.

“In these two directions, we anticipate that we will be back to 95 per cent of pre-pandemic passenger numbers by the end of 2023. As we further rebuild, we will add more transit traffic by the Hong Kong hub as well.”

She added that the group would consider paying dividends for the ordinary shares at the appropriate time, subject to the operating environment and the firm’s financial situation.

Hong Kong became one of the last cities in the world to scrap all Covid-19 travel restrictions in January, ending three years of lockdown.

Earnings at Hong Kong’s Cathay soar to HK$4.3 billion in first half of 2023

The Cathay group in August announced a HK$4.26 billion (US$546 million) half-year net profit, a figure that marked a turnaround in its performance and prompted the carrier to announce its plans to buy back company shares held by the Hong Kong government and purchase up to 32 Airbus aircraft.

The first-half profit was partly attributed to a one-off gain of HK$1.9 billion from Cathay’s dilution of its interest in Air China shares from 18.13 per cent in the first half to 16.26 per cent.

The return to profitability followed losses of HK$33.7 billion over three years during the pandemic that resulted in the airline grounding many of its fleet of aircraft and laying off thousands of staff as part of cost-cutting measures.

The Cathay group gradually increased flights since late last year amid strong demand prompted by the city joining others in the world in rolling back its travel curbs, with more expensive ticket prices also helping to shift the company’s fortunes.

In October, the group carried 1.68 million passengers, a 320 per cent jump from the same month in 2022.

In the first 10 months, the number of passengers increased by 887.4 per cent. No absolute figures were disclosed.

Hong Kong’s Cathay tackles staff shortages, poor morale as it chases rivals

Cathay chief customer and commercial officer Lavinia Lau Hoi-zee said there were more business-class travellers to Guangzhou in October, while the long weekend during the Chung Yeung Festival sparked outbound leisure travel.

This was contrary to the marked presence of student travellers in September.

The group’s cargo business jumped 14 per cent year on year or 4 per cent month on month in October ahead of mega sales events such as Singles’ Day and Black Friday.

Lau said she expected more demand for fresh produce from key markets in the Southwest Pacific, the Americas and Japan into Hong Kong and mainland China in the lead-up to the perishables season.

Hong Kong’s Cathay to offer 3.8% pay rise but pilots’ union far from happy

Sharpe noted that Cathay planned to hire another 5,000 staff in 2024 on top of the 4,000 this year.

“Yes we are ramping up … we’ve got plans to significantly increase the workforce,” she said.

“We’ll have grown our group’s workforce by around 4,000 by the end of 2023. We plan to continue to grow the group’s workforce by more than 5,000 people next year. A further roughly 25 per cent from where we are now.”

Tommy Tam Kwong-shun, chairman of the Society of IATA Passenger Agents, said Cathay’s return to profitability was a shot in the arm for the aviation and tourism industries, but the airline needed to resolve its manpower issues to achieve further growth.

“This is definitely good news for the two industries,” he said. “I am upbeat about Cathay’s future growth but it needs to resolve the difficulties of hiring more manpower such as cabin crew, pilots and ground handlers.”

He advised the airline to form partnerships with travel agencies by rolling out more tourism products to attract travellers to Hong Kong.

“Cathay should not just focus on its own business. It should seek to cooperate with the tourism industry such as travel agents to boost the development of the industry,” he said.

The Cathay group’s recovery came amid further improvements in global travel. Its rival Singapore Airlines posted a 55.4 per cent rise in net profit to S$1.44 billion in the six months to October 31 from the same period last year.

It also logged a record quarterly operating profit between July and September, up 17.8 per cent to S$799 million from the same period last year.

Hong Kong’s tourism numbers have continued to recover, but not as fast as desired by the government.

Official statistics showed 26.78 million visitors came to Hong Kong in the first 10 months of 2023, and the Tourism Board said it expected the full-year total would rise to 30 million. However, numbers are expected to be less than half of the record 65 million tourists the city attracted in 2018.