Cathay cargo posts best result of 2009 - 0.8pc drop

HONG KONG's Cathay Pacific, together with Dragonair, flew 0.8 per cent less cargo in October year on year, carrying 143,290 tonnes of freight and mail, the company announced.

"October was the best month of the year for cargo with strong demand out of Hong Kong and Shanghai leading to high load factors, particularly to North America and Europe, and a welcome increase in yield," said Cathay Pacific cargo chief Titus Diu.

While the cargo and mail load factor rose by 10.8 percentage points to 76.7 per cent, capacity for the month, measured in available tonne kilometres, was 15.6 per cent lower. For the year to date, tonnage fell 11.1 per cent against a capacity reduction of 14 per cent.

"We expect demand to remain strong through to mid-December, though it is still too early to say whether we are seeing a sustained recovery," said Mr Diu.

Cathay Pacific and Dragonair carried a total of 2,010,739 passengers in October - down 3.9 per cent against the same month in 2008 - while capacity for the month, measured in available seat kilometres (ASKs), was down by 10.1 per cent. The month's load factor was 82.3 per cent -up 6.8 per cent. For the year to date, the number of passengers carried has fallen by 3.8 per cent compared to a capacity decline of 4.5 per cent.

"The seasonal upturn in our passenger business that began in September continued through into last month. The pick-up in premium traffic was helped by the Canton Fair, but volumes and yields were still below October 2008," said Cathay revenue chief Tom Owen.

(Source:www.schednet.com)