Cathay Pacific releases combined trafiic figures for January

Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon carried a total of 2,966,845 passengers last month – an increase of 2.4% compared to January 2016. The passenger load factor increased to 86.5%, while capacity, measured in available seat kilometres (ASKs), grew by 1.3%.

The two airline s carried 151,133 tonnes of cargo and mail last month, an increase of 2.3% compared to January 2016. The cargo and mail load factor rose by 0.3 percentage points to 61.9%. Capacity, measured in available cargo/mail tonne kilometres, was up by 0.5% while cargo and mail revenue tonne kilometres (RTKs) increased by 1%.

Cathay Pacific General Manager Revenue Management Patricia Hwang said: “Helped by strong return traffic following the Christmas and New Year holidays, our business began positively in January with a healthy growth in passenger volumes. Our short-haul routes were buoyed by pre-Chinese New Year demand and we operated additional flights to cater for the holiday demand. Northeast Asia routes, particularly Sapporo in Japan, performed well. However, given the earlier-than-normal start to the lunar holiday, year-on-year comparison figures are subject to distortion. Yield continues to come under considerable pressure due to intense competition and adverse currency movements. We announced the launch of a seasonal service to Barcelona this summer, which we expect will prove popular with the travelling public.”

Cathay Pacific General Manager Cargo Sales & Marketing Mark Sutch said: “We got off to a solid start in 2017. Tonnage grew ahead of capacity and showed an increase over the same month last year. We saw a good rebound in demand from Hong Kong, Mainland China and various key Asian markets. Yield was sustained through a better mix of priority and special shipments. There was also robust demand for fresh produce and seafood across the network. We operated a number of extra-sector freighters to the Americas, Europe and India in January, while cutting back on capacity in February to adapt to Chinese New Year’s January start.”