HONG KONG, March 12, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Hong Kong carrier Cathay Pacific said on Wednesday that its attributable profit rose slightly in 2024 to US$1.27 billion, after announcing earlier this year that its flights were finally back to pre-pandemic levels.

The city's aviation sector was hit hard by Covid-era policies, which imposed strict rules on travellers that kept it internationally isolated before they were lifted in late 2022.

Chair Patrick Healy said last year marked Cathay's "second consecutive year of solid financial performance", following an attributable profit of US$1.26 billion in 2023.

"Our solid second-half financial result was driven by elevated cargo demand, higher passenger volumes, lower fuel prices and higher cost efficiencies compared with the previous year," Healy said in an earnings release.

"This was partly offset by a continued normalisation of passenger yields as the supply of flights increased to meet demand in the overall market as expected."

After a years-long manpower crunch, Cathay said Wednesday that it plans to boost staff numbers by up to 4,000, to a total of around 34,000 by the year's end.

The number of Cathay pilots in 2024 remained below pre-pandemic levels, according to the South China Morning Post.

However, the airline said in January that it had completed a two-year journey to return to "100 percent of our pre-pandemic flights" that month.

It added that it would try to reach 100 passenger destinations worldwide this year.

Cathay has launched a bidding process for dozens of new widebody aircraft, Bloomberg News reported in January.