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Cathay August cargo up 19.7pc - great expections for September iPhones

HONG KONG's Cathay Pacific Airways and Dragonair posted a 19.7 per cent year on year increase in cargo and mail volume in August to 146,955 tonnes, the company announced.

The cargo and mail load factor increased 3.8 percentage points to 2.5 per cent. Capacity, measured in available cargo/mail tonne kilometres, increased 13.3 per cent while cargo and mail revenue tonne kilometres (RTKs) flown were up by 20.6 per cent.

Year to date, Cathay-Dragonair tonnage was up 11.3 per cent while capacity increased 11.4 per cent as RTKs grew 14.3 per cent.

Demand out of Hong Kong and the key manufacturing regions in mainland China remained strong and we hope to see a further uptick in September as new consumer IT products are launched in the market," said Cathay cargo chief Mark Sutch.

揇emand remained robust throughout August and the year-on-year tonnage increase was again well above expectations. .

"The Americas remain the key focus of our cargo business and we will extend our presence with a new freighter service to Calgary and increased frequencies to Columbus in October, and more flights to Mexico from November,?Mr Sutch said.

The airlines posted a 3.6 per cent year-on-year increase in August passengers to 2,849,359. The load factor was 87.2 per cent while available seat kilometres (ASKs), were up 7.1 per cent. Year to date, volume rose 5.8 per cent.

Said Cathay revenue chief Patricia Hwang said: 揇emand on long-haul routes was strong in August. We saw an encouraging pick-up in demand to Bangkok. Demand in the premium cabins continued to be ahead of expectations.