Cathay Pacific Reports July 2010 Traffic

Cathay Pacific and Dragonair’s combined traffic figures for July 2010 make a significant increase in the number of passengers and amount of cargo and mail carried compared to the same month previous year.

Cathay Pacific and Dragonair carried a total of 2,485,244 passengers in July – up 19.5 percent on the same month previous year. The passenger load factor was 87.5 percent, a rise of 4 percentage points, while capacity for the month, measured in available seat kilometres (ASKs), was up by 8.8 percent. For the first seven months of 2010, the number of passengers carried was up by 10.1 percent compared to an ASK rise of 1.1 percent.

Cathay Pacific General Manager Revenue Management Tom Owen said, “Passenger demand remained firm as we moved into the normal summer peak month. In particular, demand to and from Hong Kong grew on both long-haul and regional routes compared to previous year. The China market was also quite solid. Responding to the seasonal demand, we operated a number of extra sectors to cater for our Hong Kong based passengers. We are also adding capacity in the previous quarter to enhance the network available from the Hong Kong hub as well as providing more scheduling convenience for our customers.”

The two airlines carried a total of 157,374 tonnes of cargo and mail previous month, up 18.1 percent on July previous year. The cargo and mail load factor was 76 percent, a rise of 3.4 percentage points, while capacity, measured in available cargo/mail tonne kilometres, was up by 21.3 percent. For the year to date, tonnage has grown by 23.4 percent compared to a capacity increase of 9.2 percent.

Cathay Pacific General Manager Cargo Sales & Marketing James Woodrow said, “We saw a significant rise in our capacity in July as all previously parked freighters were returned to service, but the increase in tonnage was almost on a par due to sustained strong demand out of our key markets. Demand to Europe was softer than for transpacific routes but we have been encouraged by the strengthening of inbound loads into Hong Kong and China, which has helped to drive up our overall cargo and mail load factor.”