Things are looking good for Cathay Pacific Airways and Dragonair, as of May, with traffic figures for the month showing positive growth in the number of passengers carried by the two airlines, though growth failed to keep pace with the increase in capacity. Cargo on the other hand faired better with the increase in cargo tonnage, ringing in higher than the capacity increase.
In May the two airlines carried a total of 2,107,610 passengers – an increase of 15.1 per cent over the same month in 2007. However, there was a 16 per cent rise in capacity, measured in available seat kilometres (ASKs). The month’s load factor was up 2.3 percentage points to 77.4 per cent. For the year to date, the number of passengers carried has risen by 13.9 per cent, which was equal to capacity growth.
Together the two airlines carried 140,698 tonnes of cargo and mail in May, up 7.8 per cent on the same month last year, outperforming the 6.5 per cent growth in cargo capacity, measured in available cargo/mail tonne kilometres. The cargo and mail load factor rose by 1.1 percentage points to 67 per cent. For the year to date, cargo tonnage has risen by 7.5 per cent compared to a capacity rise of 7.8 per cent.
“May is usually an off -peak month for cargo but we still achieved a healthy growth over the same month last year,” said Cathay Pacific director and general manager cargo Ron Mathison. “The main problem is the continuing rise of jet fuel prices, which is having a serious impact on the bottom line of our freighter operations.”