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Cathay, Dragonair 2014 cargo volumes rise 12pc

CATHAY Pacific Airways and Dragonair have released combined traffic figures for December 2014 with the volume of cargo and mail tonnage rising compared to the same month a year earlier over the peak holiday season; and after a Christmas slowdown, they picked up in mid-January.

The sister airlines carried a total of 156,603 tonnes of cargo and mail last month, an increase of 12.2 per cent year on year.

The cargo and mail load factor rose by 4.9 percentage points to 68.2 per cent. Capacity, measured in available cargo/mail tonne kilometres, rose by 6.6 per cent, while cargo and mail revenue tonne kilometres (RTK) flown were up by 15 per cent.

For 2014 as a whole, tonnage rose by 12 per cent on a capacity boost of 10.4 per cent, and RTKs rose by 14.8 per cent.

The airlines flew 2,773,094 passengers in December, up 6.5 per cent. The passenger load factor grew by 1.1 percentage points to 83.5 per cent, and capacity, measured in available seat kilometres (ASK), increased by 5.9 per cent.

For the whole of last year, passenger numbers were up by 5.5 per cent while capacity grew by 5.9 per cent year on year, a statement from the Hong Kong-based carrier said.

Cathay Pacific general manager cargo sales Mark Sutch said: "Following on from a strong November, demand for cargo shipments remained robust right up until the beginning of the Christmas holidays in key markets.

"Traffic was again driven by strong demand out of Hong Kong and mainland China, particularly on transpacific routes, and we also saw solid shipments on the main intra-Asia lanes.

"Demand fell away when the holidays kicked in, as expected, though the markets began to pick up again from the second week of January."