Cathay, Dragonair cargo up 12pc in December, 18pc in 2010

HONG KONG's Cathay Pacific Airways and its sister company Dragonair's December results show year-on-year growth in cargo and mail tonnage and a rise in passenger volumes.

But for 2010 as a whole, cargo increased 18.1 year on year and passenger volume up 23.2 per cent, said a statement from the airlines.

The two airlines carried a total of 161,302 tonnes of cargo and mail last month, up 12 per cent on the same month in 2009.

The cargo and mail load factor fell 1.2 percentage points to 77.4 per cent, while capacity for the month, measured in available cargo/mail tonne kilometres, was up by 19 per cent.

"Freight volumes held up well through to the end of 2010 helped by year-end cancellations from our competitors," said Cathay cargo sales chief James Woodrow.

"The load factor was marginally down on the same month in 2009, but there was a significant growth in tonnage and yield held up well. We will see some slackening in the market in early January though we anticipate an improvement in the second half of the month prior to the Chinese New Year holiday," he said.

Cathay Pacific and Dragonair carried 2,279,785 passengers in December, a 2.9 per cent year-on-year increase. The month's passenger load factor was 80.1 per cent, a decrease of 3.8 percentage points, while capacity for the month, measured in available seat kilometres (ASKs), was up 7.8 per cent.

Said Cathay revenue chief Tom Owen: "The passenger numbers in December were up on the same month in 2009, while the load factor dipped due to a significant increase in capacity year on year. However, the quality of revenue in all classes of travel was higher, with an improvement in the revenue efficiency of the operation."
(Source:www.schednet.com)