Cathay Pacific blames Occupy protests for weak passenger growth
The Occupy movement was partly blamed yesterday for disappointing passenger traffic growth at Cathay Pacific Airways and Dragonair last month.
"The growth was again below expectations. We believe some of the shortfall was attributable to the protests," Cathay general manager Patricia Hwang said.
Monthly traffic figures at the group's two airlines show passenger volume grew slower than capacity for the third consecutive month, while its cargo business continued to strengthen.
The passenger load factor, a measure of capacity utilisation, fell 0.9 percentage point year on year to 80.4 per cent. Capacity, as measured by available seat kilometres, rose 5 per cent while passenger volume grew 3.7 per cent.
"The overall trends were similar to October, with weaker-than-expected demand in the premium cabins and the growth in traffic on North America routes falling well short of the big increase in capacity," Hwang said.
Cathay increased capacity on its North America routes by 16.9 per cent but demand grew only 5.3 per cent.
Will Horton, an analyst with the Centre for Aviation, said: "Cathay has grown in North America but at the expense of load factor."
Fierce competition for the transpacific market - for which Air China, All Nippon Airways and China Eastern Airlines also announced capacity addition last week - had put pressure on yields, Horton said. "Overall, the transpacific market is likely to get worse before it gets better."
