Combined Cathay Pacific and Dragonair August passengers up 9.7%

August cargo traffic not quite as strong as the previous month in terms of volume.

Cathay Pacific Airways on Friday released combined Cathay Pacific and Dragonair traffic figures for August 2010 which followed the general trend of the year to date by showing increases in both the number of passengers and amount of cargo and mail carried compared to the same month in 2009.

The two airlines carried a total of 2,423,444 passengers in August – up 9.7% on the same month last year. The passenger load factor was 84.4%, a rise of 0.3 percentage points, while capacity for the month, measured in available seat kilometres (ASKs), was up by 7.1%. For the year to date, the number of passengers carried is up 10.1% compared to an ASK rise of 1.9%.

On the freight side, Cathay Pacific and Dragonair carried 149,009 tonnes of cargo and mail last month, up 13.1% on August last year. The cargo and mail load factor was 72.7%, a rise of 0.7 percentage points, while capacity, measured in available cargo/mail tonne kilometres, was up by 24.5%. For the year to date, tonnage has grown by 22.0% compared to a capacity increase of 11.1%, according to a Cathay Pacific report.

Cathay Pacific General Manager Revenue Management Tom Owen said: "Traffic in our Economy cabins remained strong throughout August, with very robust demand out of our home market – particularly on long-haul routes and to holiday destinations in Southeast and Northeast Asia. The China market again was solid, both on our trunk routes to Beijing and Shanghai as well as to secondary cities, with a good performance in the premium cabins. Overall, though, our premium revenue and volumes remained below pre-downturn levels and we wait to see the extent of the pick-up in the traditional peak season for business travel in the last quarter.”

Cathay Pacific General Manager Cargo Sales & Marketing James Woodrow said: "Our cargo traffic in August was not quite as strong as the previous month in terms of volume, and our tonnage growth was some way behind capacity growth. However, business was still solid for what is traditionally a quiet month for airfreight, and yields in the market remained buoyant. We are now preparing for an expected pick-up in the last quarter by strengthening some of our scheduled freighter frequencies on Transpacific and European routes."