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Cathay, Dragonair air cargo and mail upticks 0.5pc to 147,545 tons in July

HONG KONG's Cathay Pacific Airways and Dragonair carried 0.5 per cent more cargo and mail in July to 147,545 tons year on year.

The cargo and mail load factor fell 2.9 percentage points to 61.8 per cent. Capacity, measured in available cargo/mail tonne kilometres, rose 6.2 per cent while cargo and mail revenue tonne kilometres (RTKs) flown increased 1.4 per cent.

In the year to the end of July, tonnage rose 6.8 per cent against a capacity increase of 8.5 per cent and a nine per cent rise in RTKs.

Said Cathay cargo sales chief Mark Sutch: "After a flat second quarter, demand for air freight shipments remained below expectations throughout July. The growth in tonnage lagged the growth in capacity by a sizeable margin, which dragged down the month's load factor".

Mr Sutch said that yield remained under pressure due to overcapacity in a number of markets.

"Among the positive stories of the month, demand into and out of India continued to be ahead of expectations and we also saw an upsurge in project shipments out of western China, and Chongqing in particular," he said.

Said Cathay revenue chief Patricia Hwang: "July was a busy month for our passenger business with the growth in traffic staying ahead of the increase in capacity, although yield remained under pressure."

Mr Hwang said loads were high on most routes across the network with strong demand for leisure travel both within the region and to long-haul destinations.

"Premium traffic was reasonably robust on regional routes though we continued to see a shortfall to some key long-haul destinations.

"Traffic to Korea remained weak in July due to the MERS outbreak and we reduced capacity accordingly. However, we expect demand to rebound quickly," she said.