Cathay Cargo sees 13.6% cargo growth in April despite load dip

Cathay Cargo reported a 13.6% year-on-year increase in cargo carried during April 2025, signalling strong momentum in its freight operations despite a slight dip in load factor. The carrier transported 133,398 tonnes of cargo, with Available Freight Tonne Kilometres (AFTKs) rising by 8.9% and Revenue Freight Tonne Kilometres (RFTKs) up by 6.8% compared to April 2024.

However, the cargo load factor dropped by 1.1 percentage points to 58.3% as capacity growth outpaced demand. On a cumulative basis, Cathay Cargo carried 532,483 tonnes in the first four months of 2025, up 12.4% from the same period in 2024. Meanwhile, freighter flight sectors remained nearly flat with a slight increase of 0.3%, totalling 1,266 in April.

Lavinia Lau, Chief Customer and Commercial Officer of Cathay Cargo, noted the month-on-month decline in tonnage, citing a 10.4% drop from March. She attributed this to seasonality, including the end of the Q1 peak and multiple holiday periods in April. Despite the temporary slowdown, Cathay Cargo’s specialist solutions showed resilience.

The carrier’s Cathay Priority product saw strong uptake, particularly on the Asia Pacific to United States route, spurred by pre-tariff shipping activity. Additionally, Cathay Expert continued gaining traction, supported by robust exports of semiconductor manufacturing machinery from North Asia and ad hoc demand originating from Europe to Hong Kong.

Looking ahead, Cathay Cargo is seeing stable replacement cargo volumes from Southeast Asia during early May, amid subdued demand from Hong Kong and mainland China. The airline remains focused on agile capacity management and monitoring demand trends in the second half of the month.