Cathay Pacific cargo carried up 60% in Feb
In the first two months of 2023, tonnage increased 43%, capacity was up 201% and RFTKs increased 147% YoY
Cathay Pacific carried 103,932 tonnes of cargo last month, an increase of 60 percent compared with February 2022 when capacity was significantly reduced due to strict aircrew quarantine measures.
Cargo revenue tonne kilometres (RFTKs) increased 154 percent year-on-year, says an official release.
"The cargo load factor decreased by 13.7 percentage points to 66.7 percent while capacity, measured in available cargo tonne kilometres (AFTKs), increased 206.1 percent year-on-year. In the first two months of 2023, tonnage increased 42.8 percent against a 201.3 percent increase in capacity and a 147.4 percent increase in RFTKs compared with the same period for 2022."
Chief Customer and Commercial Officer Lavinia Lau
Chief Customer and Commercial Officer Lavinia Lau says: “Tonnage grew 9% in February compared to January, reflecting the gradual recovery in demand following the Lunar New Year holidays. Inbound demand from the Americas, Europe, Northeast Asia and Southwest Pacific remained steady, especially across our special solutions such as Cathay Fresh and Cathay Pharma. Ad-hoc demand from Southeast Asia as well as South Asia, the Middle East and Africa (SAMEA) also helped fill the gaps left by demand from Hong Kong and the Chinese Mainland on long-haul routes.
“February saw a number of exciting new developments including the launch of Cathay Cargo – a rebrand of our cargo business. The change aligns with the Cathay Group’s overarching ambition to Move Beyond, and reinforces our cargo business’s commitment to offering leading-edge services to our customers.
“Cathay Cargo notably also became the first airline and Cathay Pacific Services the first cargo terminal operator to utilise the Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) Logistics Park in Dongguan. This enables us to offer our customers seamless sea-air shipments from the Greater Bay Area (GBA) directly into HKIA for outbound airfreight."
March outlook
Giving the outlook for March, Lau adds: "Demand from our home market, Hong Kong, as well as the Chinese Mainland is increasing with e-commerce-related traffic picking up relatively more quickly. We are progressively expanding our network coverage as more of our passenger flights are resumed.”
