Cathay Pacific Airways’ cargo volumes fell in August at the lowest rate so far this year, with a 6.3 per cent decline as Cathay cut cargo capacity 14.1 per cent, giving the Hong Kong-based carrier a healthy 72 per cent load factor, 4.3 percentage points better than August 2008.

Cathay Cargo Sales and Marketing general manager Titus Diu said Cathay saw “a continued increase in demand out of our key home market, but while tonnage is undoubtedly picking up there is still a lot of competition in the market and our yield has yet to see any significant pickup from a very low base.”

Cathay also saw a small slip from July, when cargo traffic measured in freight metric-ton kilometers fell 3.7 per cent year-on-year. Traffic by that measure fell at a faster rate in August, declining 6.1 per cent from the same month a year ago, and the cargo traffic and tonnage both dipped slightly in August compared to July.