Cathay Pacific Airways and Dragonair combined traffic figures for June 2008 showed rising cargo tonnage and growth in the number of passengers carried by the two airlines compared to the same month last year.
In June the two airlines carried 137,680 tonnes of cargo and mail last month, up4 per cent on June 2007. Capacity for the month, measured in available cargo/mail tonne kilometres, grew by 2.2 per cent while the cargo and mail load factor edged up by 0.5 percentage points to 67.5 per cent. Both cargo tonnage and capacity for the year to date have risen by 6.9 per cent.
The two also carried a total of 2,123,462 passengers – an increase of 12.7 per cent over the same month in2007. The month’s load factor was up 0.3 percentage points to 81.3 per cent, while June’s capacity, measured in available seat kilometres (ASKs) increased by 16 percent on the previous year. For the year to date, the number of passengers carried has risen by 13.7 per cent compared to a capacity rise of 14.3 per cent.
“Demand remained fairly robust in most markets in June with the exception of Northeast Asia, and we were pleased to see cargo and mail tonnage growth stay ahead of capacity growth,” said Cathay Pacific general manager cargo sales and marketing Titus Diu.
“Our cargo business has been given aboost by the launch of passenger services to Chennai and Bengaluru, but the continued rise in jet fuel costs is having a serious impact on our bottom line.”