The destinations of new flights will mainly be Japan and London.

According to a statement published on Monday by the company, over 400 flights commuting in Asia and for long-distance journeys will be added in October, as the traffic performance in September showed continuous rebounding.

"The traffic figure for September this year reflects the positive impact of further adjustments to the SAR government's travel restrictions and quarantine requirements," said Cathay in the statement.

The airline said an additional 146 flight sectors in November and 234 in December would be operated on top of the sectors previously scheduled for Japan in these two months. "This will add close to 140,000 seats over this period for fans of Japan heading to Osaka, Tokyo, and Sapporo."

"We have resumed passenger flights to five destinations this month – Madrid, Milan, Dubai, Kathmandu and Bengaluru – bringing our total number of destinations to 51 in October," the statement added.

The airline's target is to double the number of destinations offered by the end of the year compared with the 29 that operated in January.

More than 8,800 passengers were carried each day in September on average, said the company, noting the boosting was mainly due to local travellers going abroad and students from China to Hong Kong.

A total of 265,845 passengers were carried in September, contributing to an increase of 101.7 percent compared to the same period last year, but an 89 percent decrease compared to the pre-pandemic level for September 2019.

Separately, the company admitted its cargo tonnage in September decreased by about 21 percent compared to last year, and the overall cargo flight capacity last month accounted for only 61 percent of the pre-pandemic level.

"It is largely due to weaker consumer demand and reduced manufacturing activities in the Chinese Mainland," said Cathay.