Mike King, Special Correspondent | Jun 15, 2012 9:01AM EDT
Cathay Pacific Airways saw a double-digit drop in cargo and mail tonnage shipments last month.
Combined figures for Cathay Pacific and Dragonair for May revealed the two carriers saw cargo and mail tonne kilometers flown contract by 15.3 percent year-over-year.
The two airlines carried 123,403 tonnes of cargo and mail last month, a drop of 10.6 percent compared to May 2011 and slightly lower than the 124,531 tonnes carried in April.
The cargo and mail load factor was down by 5.9 percentage points to 62.3 percent compared to May 2011 while capacity, measured in available cargo/mail tonne kilometers, was cut by 7.3 percent.
James Woodrow, Cathay Pacific general manager cargo sales and marketing, said demand had remained soft out of the key Hong Kong and mainland China markets in May.
“Demand was down on long-haul routes, particularly to Europe, though traffic within the Asia Pacific region held up well,” he added.
The carrier launched a new freighter service to Hyderabad in India in May and in March introduced new services to Zhengzhou in Central China.” “We continue to manage capacity in line with demand, at the same time as developing new markets where possible,” said Woodrow.
Contact Mike King at michael@borderline.eu.com.
