Cathay Pacific releases combined traffic figures for August

SEP 16, 2015: Cathay Pacific Airways released combined Cathay Pacific and Dragonair traffic figures for August 2015 that show a record number of passenger carried but only a small increase in the volume of cargo and mail uplifted compared to the same month last year.

Cathay Pacific and Dragonair 148,109 tonnes of cargo and mail in August, an increase of 0.8 percent compared to the same month last year. The cargo and mail load factor fell by 1.9 ercentage points to 60.6 percent. Capacity, measured in available cargo/mail tonne kilometres, rose by 3.5 percent while cargo and mail revenue tonne kilometres (RTKs) flown increased by 0.4 percent. In the year to the end of August, tonnage rose by 6 percent against a capacity increase of 7.8 percent and a 7.9 percent rise in RTKs.

The two airlines carried a total of 3,091,478 passengers last month – an increase of 8.5 percent compared to August 2014. This is the first time that the two airlines have carried more than 3 million passengers in a single month. The passenger load factor grew by 1.4 percentage points to 88.6 percent while capacity, measured in available seat kilometres (ASKs), grew by 6.1 percent. In the year to the end of August, passenger traffic rose by 8.5 percent while capacity increased by 6.4 percent.

Cathay Pacific general manager revenue management Patricia Hwang said, “Our flights were very busy in August, and in addition to a new record for passenger traffic we also saw a new monthly high for load factor. We saw strong demand for leisure traffic to key holiday destinations within the region and also very high load factors on our long-haul routes, particularly Europe, Africa and North America. Demand to Korea began to pick up following the lifting of the Hong Kong SAR Government’s Red Outbound Travel Alert, though the route continued to operate on reduced capacity throughout August. Meanwhile, traffic to Bangkok showed a sharp falloff after the terrible bombing on 18 August. Premium traffic remained below expectations on key long-haul routes, putting continued pressure on yield.”

Cathay Pacific general manager cargo sales & marketing Mark Sutch said, “August is traditionally one of the quieter months for our air cargo business and that proved to be the case last month. We operated more capacity than in August 2014 but the tonnage carried improved only marginally while the load factor fell, highlighting the overall weakness of demand. Looking ahead we expect to see a traditional winter peak. In those markets where we face stronger competition and capacity growth, we have the ability to leverage strong network feed over our hub to maintain good loads on our long-haul trunk routes at a sustained yield.”