New | Cathay Pacific passenger traffic disappoints
Air cargo business outpaces increase in capacity for ninth month in a row on transpacific demand
Cathay Pacific Airways reported disappointing passenger traffic volume for last month, but operating data released on Monday showed its cargo business outpaced the increase in capacity for the ninth month in a row.
Combined traffic figures for Cathay Pacific and Dragonair for January show they carried a total of 2,612,964 passengers, up 2.7 per cent year on year, while capacity, measured in available seat kilometres, increased by 7.3 per cent. Passenger load factor dropped by 0.7 percentage point to 82.7 per cent, reflecting emptier planes.
"The dip in demand between New Year and Chinese New Year was steeper than anticipated and the increase in passenger numbers failed to keep pace with the increase in capacity," Cathay Pacific's general manager for revenue management, Patricia Hwang, said.
The mainland market had by far the worst contraction among all regions, with a year-on-year traffic decline of 10.7 per cent, compared with a capacity decrease of 3.8 per cent.
Hwang said a shift in the Lunar New Year from January last year to February this year had distorted year-on-year comparisons.
North America, Cathay's largest market, recorded traffic growth of 11.3 per cent while capacity increased 16.7 per cent.