Cathay Pacific and Dragonair March passenger volume down 2.8%

Fall in demand on Japanese route after the devastating earthquake contributed to the slight dip in number of passengers.

Cathay Pacific Airways on Thursday released combined Cathay Pacific and Dragonair traffic figures for March 2011 that show a slight year-on-year drop in the number of passengers carried, while there was an increase in the amount of cargo and mail carried.

Cathay Pacific and Dragonair carried a total of 2,159,885 passengers last month – down 2.8% on March 2010 – while the passenger load factor was down 8.8 percentage points to 76.9%. Capacity for the month, measured in available seat kilometres (ASKs), was up by 9.8%.

The two airlines carried 161,461 tonnes of cargo and mail in March 2011, an increase of 1.4% compared to the same month last year, while the cargo and mail load factor was down 10.7 percentage points to 71%. Capacity, measured in available cargo/mail tonne kilometres, was up by 21.1%, while cargo and mail tonne kilometres flown were up by 5.3%, according to a Cathay Pacific report.

Cathay Pacific General Manager Revenue Management Tom Owen said: "Although premium demand remained firm in most markets, the slump in demand on all our Japanese routes is evident. North American and Southeast Asian markets remained strong, although it was a challenging month for the Economy Class cabins on European and South West Pacific routes, affected to some extent by an Easter seasonality shift as well as heightened competition. China markets remain encouragingly strong overall, although we face revenue challenges specifically on the Shanghai routes off a very high base in 2010.”

Cathay Pacific General Manager Cargo Sales & Marketing James Woodrow said: “While demand back into Asia remained robust during March, the demand from Hong Kong and Shanghai was comparatively soft particularly to Europe. Demand did improve towards the end of the month due to an increase at the end of the quarter. The tragic earthquake in Japan did briefly affect our Japan operation however the Cathay Pacific Japan team worked heroically to get cargo flowing again almost immediately. Our thoughts are with those who lost relatives and remain homeless following the earthquake.”