The Hong Kong airline was battered by strict lockdowns.
It had to park most of its planes, and saw its normally busy home hub go deserted.
Now Chief Executive Ronald Lam says 2023 is looking much better.
By the end of last year the airline was back to operating about a third of its pre-crisis capacity.
And it's aiming to make that 70% by the end of this year, and 100% by the end of 2024.
It's already operating about two-thirds of its cargo capacity.
Even so, its recovery has lagged that of arch-rival Singapore Airlines, which faced less strict lockdowns last year.
On Wednesday Cathay reported an annual loss of about $834 million.
That was at the low end of its own forecasts.
Shares in the airline ended the day slightly down, but that outperformed a drop of over 2% for Hong Kong's Hang Seng index.
