(Reuters) -Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific Airways on Friday said it expects to record half-year profit attributable up to HK$4.5 billion ($575.85 million) compared with a loss of HK$5.0 billion last year.

It would be Cathay Pacific's first half-year profit in three years buoyed by a strong rebound in travel demand, an increase in group capacity and a one-off gain from a stake sale in Air China.

The city's flagship carrier expects consolidated profit attributable to shareholders between HK$4 billion and HK$4.5 billion.

Cathay Pacific said it carried about 7.82 million passengers in the first half, a meteoric rise from 335,462 carried last year, as flights more than doubled to 18,101.

($1 = 7.8146 Hong Kong dollars)

(Reporting by Sameer Manekar in Bengaluru; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee and Sohini Goswami)