Cathay, DragonAir passenger load factor inched higher to 82.4%

But cargo and mail tonnage declined.

In a release, Cathay Pacific Airways today announced the combined Cathay Pacific and Dragonair traffic figures for December 2013 that show passenger numbers increasing in line with the capacity increase for the month. Cargo and mail tonnage, however, showed a year-on-year decline despite more capacity being available.

Cathay Pacific and Dragonair carried a total of 2,604,115 passengers in December – an increase of 3.3% compared to the same month last year. The passenger load factor was up 1.7 percentage points to 82.4%, while capacity, measured in available seat kilometres (ASKs), saw a 3.2% increase.

Over the course of 2013, the number of passengers carried rose by 3.3% compared to a capacity decrease of 1.8%.

The two airlines carried 139,608 tonnes of cargo and mail last month, a drop of 5.0% compared to December 2012. The cargo and mail load factor fell by 4.1 percentage points to 63.3%.

Capacity, measured in available cargo/mail tonne kilometres, increased by 1.8% while cargo and mail revenue tonne kilometres flown were down by 4.4%. The total tonnage carried in 2013 fell by 1.5% compared to the previous year, while capacity was up by 1.7%.

Cathay Pacific General Manager Revenue Management James Tong said: “There was strong demand for leisure traffic in December, particularly out of our home market in Hong Kong, and we mounted additional flights in response. The busiest routes were Japan, Korea and holiday destinations in Southeast Asia, though many travellers cancelled journeys to Bangkok due to the political unrest in the city.

Demand on long-haul routes also held up well, with an increasing number of people electing to travel in our Premium Economy Class cabin.” Cathay Pacific General Manager Cargo Sales & Marketing Mark Sutch said:

“After seeing strong demand throughout November, the seasonal airfreight peak began to fizzle out in mid-December. There were some late charter requests to capture last-minute pre-Christmas demand on the transpacific lanes, but by the third week in the month we had reduced our freighter schedule to pre-peak levels.

We took delivery of three more Boeing 747-8F freighters in December as part of our ongoing drive to improve the efficiency of our operation, particularly on the key transpacific routes.”