Cathay cargo volume up 8.9pc in January to 144,402 tonnes

HONG KONG's Cathay Pacific Airways and its sister airline, Dragonair, enjoyed an 8.9 per cent year-on-year increase in January air freight and mail to 144,402 tonnes.


But the two carriers suffered a load factor reduction of 7.1 percentage points to 67.8 per cent while posting a 25.5 per cent increase in available cargo/mail tonne kilometres as well as a 13.7 per cent increase in cargo/mail tonne kilometres flown year on year.


"Freight volumes fell a little following the 2010 year-end peak but, overall, traffic still held up well. Demand out of the key Hong Kong and mainland markets was softer, but this freed space to enable us to carry more from other destinations. The expected pre-Chinese New Year rush did not materialise to the extent seen in previous years," said Cathay cargo chief James Woodrow.


Cathay Pacific and Dragonair carried 2,243,788 passengers in January - up 6.8 per cent year on year. The passenger load factor, however, was down by 2.5 percentage points to 81.3 per cent. Capacity for the month, in available seat kilometres (ASKs), increased 10.1 per cent.


Said Cathay revenue general manager Tom Owen: "Passenger traffic held up well following the Christmas and New Year peaks, and the quality of revenue in all classes of travel saw an improvement over the same period in 2010."
(Source:http://www.schednet.com)