Cathay Pacific today released its traffic figures for July 2023, showing the airline carried 115,729 tonnes of cargo last month, an increase of 14.9% compared with July 2022.
The month’s cargo revenue tonne kilometres (RFTKs) increased 24.6% year on year.
The cargo load factor decreased by 11.2 percentage points to 59.8%, while capacity, measured in available cargo tonne kilometres (AFTKs), increased by 47.9% year on year.
In the first seven months of 2023, the tonnage increased by 22.4% against a 102.5% increase in capacity and a 71.1% increase in RFTKs, as compared with the same period for 2022.
Chief Customer and Commercial Officer Lavinia Lau said: “While overall cargo demand in July remained at similar levels compared with June, e-commerce traffic continued to be a bright spot holding volumes up.
“Movement of seasonal fresh produce has also been active, contributing to good volume growth under our Cathay Fresh solution. All in all, cargo tonnage in July grew 4% month on month.
“while we expect volumes to remain flat for the rest of the summer period, we anticipate demand will pick up from the end of the third quarter as we enter the traditional peak period for air cargo.
“Overall, we anticipate our cargo business will continue to perform solidly throughout the second half of 2023.”
As an additional update following the Group’s payment of the HK$1.5 billion deferred dividend on the HK$19.5 billion preference shares held by the Hong Kong SAR Government in June and announcement of its intention to pay all future preference shares dividends as they fall due, the Group has paid the latest dividend of HK$292.5 million due on the preference shares on 14 August 2023.
