Cathay Pacific said on Wednesday that passenger figures are on the rise and it is resuming flights to more destinations in Asia as the Christmas and New Year holidays draw near.

In a statement, the airline welcomed the lifting of amber health code restrictions for incoming travellers, saying it would help further boost sentiment for travel.

“As we approach the festive Christmas and New Year holiday period, travel demand continues to improve. We are further increasing our passenger flight capacity and resuming more destinations,” said Ronald Lam, the group’s chief customer and commercial officer.

“We expect that short-haul routes to leisure destinations such as Japan and Southeast Asia will remain strong, continuing on into the Chinese New Year holiday peak as well.”

This month, Cathay is resuming flights to Sapporo, Fukuoka, Penang and Dhaka, and passengers can travel with the airline to Phuket and Nagoya from January. 

The flag carrier also said it carried almost 527,000 passengers last month, which was over six-and-a-half times more than it did in November 2021. 

But passenger numbers were still down almost 80 percent compared to the same month in 2019.

“On average, we carried about 17,600 passengers a day in November, up from around 13,000 in October. Passenger flight capacity increased about 16 percent versus the previous month. Overall, we operated 27 percent of pre-pandemic capacity levels in November,” Lam said.

Separately, Cathay said cargo carried in November was down six percent compared to the month before at 103,092 tonnes - an almost 24 percent drop year-on-year.

“Demand remained flat in November compared with the previous month despite it being the start of the traditional peak cargo period…Production activities in the Chinese mainland and trade flows remained constrained,” Lam said.

The company said it expects headwinds in the air cargo market to continue until supply chains on the mainland become more stable.