Cathay Pacific and Dragonair passenger load factor down 6.8% in February 2011

The combined traffic figures for February 2011 showed a year-on-year drop in the number of passengers and amount of cargo and mail carried.

According to Cathay Pacific, Cathay Pacific and Dragonair carried a total or 2,036,437 passengers last month - down 1.2% on February 2010 - while the passenger load factor went down to 77.3%. Capacity for the month, measured in available seat kilometres, was up by 8.9%.

The two airlines carried 116,998 tonnes of cargo in February 2011, a drop of 2.3% compared to the same month last year, while the cargo and mail load factor was down 9.5 percentage points to 67.6%. Capacity, measured in available cargo/mail tonne kilometres, was up by 17.8%, while cargo and mail tonne kilometres flown were up by 3.3%.

Cathay Pacific General Manager Revenue Management Tom Owen said: "February saw strong leisure demand on many regional routes due to return traffic over the Chinese New Year holiday period. Premium traffic volumes and yield also held up well throughout the month. When the January and February results are combined to remove Chinese New Year distortions, business was in line with expectations. However, there are Economy Class demand and yield challenges ahead across parts of our network as we continue to grow capacity, particularly on long-haul services.”

Cathay Pacific General Manager Cargo Sales & Marketing James Woodrow said: “Demand out of the key Hong Kong and China markets was generally quite weak during and immediately after the Chinese New Year holidays in early February, with a number of factories in the Mainland staying closed for a longer period than usual. We saw some pick-up later in the month though there was no significant month-end rush. We managed our capacity in line with demand, cancelling a number of freighter services on long-haul trunk routes.”