Cathay Pacific, Dragonair passenger traffic up 2.9% to 2.49m

More passengers, less capacity.

In a release, Cathay Pacific Airways announced the combined Cathay Pacific and Dragonair traffic figures for June 2013 that show passenger numbers rising, despite a capacity decrease, alongside yet another drop in cargo and mail tonnage.

Cathay Pacific and Dragonair carried a total of 2,484,683 passengers in June – up 2.9% compared to the same month last year. The passenger load factor was up by 2.0 percentage points to 84.9%, while capacity, measured in available seat kilometres (ASKs), fell by 2.1%.

For the year to date, the number of passengers has increased by 1.3% while capacity has fallen by 4.8%.

The two airlines carried 122,170 tonnes of cargo and mail last month, a drop of 4.3% compared to June 2012. The cargo and mail load factor fell by 4.0 percentage points to 61.7%.

Capacity, measured in available cargo/mail tonne kilometres, rose by 2.2%while cargo and mail revenue tonne kilometres were down by 4.0%. For the year to date, tonnage has fallen by 1.8% compared to a 1.8% capacity decrease.

Cathay Pacific General Manager Revenue Management James Tong said: “As expected, we saw a surge in traffic last month after a quiet May. Demand was high across the network, buoyed by returning schoolchildren on several key routes and the beginning of summer holiday travel. Long-haul routes were particularly busy with high load factors in all classes of travel.

We saw some pick-up in the Mainland China market compared to the previous month and demand to Japan was again high as a result of the yen depreciation. Demand in the premium cabins was in line with expectations.”

Cathay Pacific General Manager Cargo Sales & Marketing James Woodrow said:

“The airfreight markets remained soft in June and we saw both tonnage and load factor falling despite a slight increase in capacity. There was no change in the overall situation in either of our key markets, Hong Kong and Mainland China.

On the longhaul routes, demand to North America continued to be better than to Europe, which remained weak. The most important development last month was the latest stage in the opening of the Cathay Pacific Cargo Terminal in Hong Kong, as we began to process import cargo from both Cathay Pacific and Dragonair inbound passenger flights. The terminal will be fully operational later in the year.”