The latest stats from Cathay Pacific Airways reveal that Cathay Pacific and its regional subsidiary Dragonair outperformed last year’s figures for the number of passengers and volume of cargo carried.
Cathay Pacific and Dragonair carried a total of 2,933,382 passengers last month – an increase of 5.8% compared to December 2014. The passenger load factor grew by 1.5 percentage points to 85.0% while capacity, measured in available seat kilometres (ASKs), grew by 6.0%. For 2015 as a whole, passenger traffic rose by 7.9% while capacity increased by 5.9%.
Cathay Pacific General Manager of Revenue Management, Patricia Hwang, said that traffic to holiday hotspots such as Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Singapore was very high throughout December, but that demand to Bangkok was still being affected by the bombing incident in 2015. Hwang also noted that there was strong demand for Cathay Pacific’s long-haul routes, especially in Economy class.
The two airlines carried 158,741 tonnes of cargo and mail in December, a 1.4% increase compared to the same month last year. The cargo and mail load factor fell by 0.3 percentage points to 67.9%. Capacity, measured in available cargo/mail tonne kilometres, was up by 2.4% while cargo and mail revenue tonne kilometres (RTKs) flown increased by 2.0%. For 2015 as a whole, tonnage rose by 4.3% against a capacity increase of 5.4% and a 5.4% rise in RTKs.
According to Cathay Pacific General Manager of Cargo Sales & Marketing, Mark Sutch, the amount of air freight carried during December was marginally ahead of expectations. He also noted that demand on the transpacific and Indian routes remained strong.