Hong Kong-based carrier Cathay Pacific Airways said passenger demand from the Chinese mainland has been robust, driven by a strong air travel market during the May Day holiday, and it will continue to expand its layout in the Chinese mainland market.

The carrier said its average passenger load factor topped 86.4 percent in April, setting a new monthly high this year. A factor that contributed to the growth is the launch of direct flights connecting Hong Kong and Urumqi, Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, on April 28, and the demand has been rosy.

Besides, Cathay Pacific began its service at the city airport terminal in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, on May 20. This has made it more convenient for passengers from Suzhou to take flights in Shanghai and process services like check-ins, baggage pre-security and baggage check-ins in Suzhou.

The launch of the service marks the carrier's further expansion of multimodal transport services from the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area to the core area of the Yangtze River Delta region, and it will continue to expand multimodal transport services in the Chinese mainland in the future.

China's air travel market posted strong growth in the first four months of this year. Over the period, the country transported 247 million passengers via domestic and international flights, and the figure grew by 5.8 percent year-on-year, according to the Civil Aviation Administration of China.

Cathay Pacific said the Chinese mainland is an important market, and it will continue to carry out large-scale recruitment and training of mainland talents, hoping to provide diversified service experiences.

Meanwhile, the airline has been actively discharging its corporate social responsibility by organizing programs to cultivate young aviation talent. It reached cooperation with the China Soong Ching Ling Foundation this month to set up a youth development fund, which aims to promote in-depth exchanges between the youth of the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong.