Cathay Pacific Airways, the largest carrier in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, said it plans to recruit more pilots and flight attendants from the Chinese mainland, as it aims to further strengthen its connections with the mainland and meet growing travel demand.

In July, Cathay Pacific, for the first time, began hiring about 200 to 300 flight attendants from the Chinese mainland this year. So far, more than 2,000 candidates have filed applications. Starting next year, the carrier plans to hire about 400 to 500 flight attendants annually and at least 800 cadet pilots from the mainland before 2025 to further improve its services.

"The capacity of Cathay Pacific and our budget arm HK Express together has resumed to nearly 60 percent of the pre-COVID levels. Capacity is on track to rebound to 70 percent by the end of the year, with full recovery by the end of 2024," Ronald Lam, CEO of Cathay Pacific Group, said during his recent visit to Beijing.

HK Express, a low-cost carrier that Cathay Pacific acquired in 2019, has an extensive network in Asia. Benefiting from strong travel demand, the number of flights operated by the carrier has exceeded pre-pandemic levels.

Currently, Cathay Pacific operates more than 140 round-trip flights connecting Hong Kong and 15 Chinese mainland cities. It aims to bring the total number to more than 160 round-trip flights by the end of October.

By the end of October, 28 weekly round-trip flights will be added connecting Beijing and Hong Kong, and Cathay Pacific will operate 51 weekly round-trip flights connecting Shanghai and Hong Kong.

In the first six months, Cathay Pacific's net profit surged to HK$4.3 billion ($548.8 million), and the carrier's business performance realized a year-on-year turnaround from loss to profitability, as it moved past the impact of the pandemic and saw stronger passenger demand.

The airline carried 7.8 million passengers in the first half of this year, up from 335,000 passengers in the same period last year, it said.

Lam added that Cathay Pacific will continue to speed up investment in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area by expanding multimodal transportation services via integrating sea, land and air services, and providing more convenient services for mainland passengers heading to global destinations via Hong Kong International Airport.

In September, Cathay Pacific will launch a lounge at Shekou Port in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, which will become the airline's first lounge located outside of airports.

Meanwhile, a third runway at Hong Kong International Airport is expected to start operation by the end of 2024. Cathay Pacific has full confidence in its future operations. It recently announced an order for an additional 32 Airbus single-aisle aircraft, including A321neo and A320neo, which are expected to join the fleet by 2029.

According to the Hong Kong Tourism Board, the city received 16.5 million visitors in the first seven months of this year, including 13.1 million visitors from the Chinese mainland. In July, 3.6 million visitors arrived in Hong Kong, up 31 percent over June. Among them, 2.97 million visitors came from the mainland.

The Hong Kong Tourism Board said the travel market in the city is recovering steadily. Referring to visitor origin, the Southeast Asian market recovered the fastest, followed by the Chinese mainland market, which recovered to some 70 percent of the pre-pandemic levels.

The International Air Transport Association recently reported that global consumers have indicated high levels of confidence in travel. Bookings indicate that the highest growth is foreseen in the Asia-Pacific region, the Middle East and Europe, the IATA found.