Cathay Pacific reports uplift in June

Cathay Pacific Group airlines Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon had a strong June – increasing both the tonnage it carried and the load factor across the flights it operated.

Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon carried a total of 180,354 tonnes of cargo and mail last month, an increase of 5.8 per cent compared to the same month last year.The cargo and mail load factor rose by 2.3 percentage points to 70.6 per cent. Capacity, measured in available freight tonne kilometres (AFTKs), was up by two per cent while cargo and mail revenue freight tonne kilometres (RFTKs) increased by 5.5 per cent.

In the first six months of 2018, the tonnage rose by 7.5 per cent (1.03 million tonnes) against a 4.1 per cent increase in capacity and a 7.3 per cent increase in RFTKs.

Cathay Pacific director for commercial and cargo, Ronald Lam said: “In terms of cargo, tonnage picked up towards end of the month. We observed a particular rise in demand on routes to Japan, owing to some capacity tightening in the market, while there was also increased uplift into the United States from Hong Kong and mainland China.

“Looking ahead, we are closely monitoring geopolitical developments and their effect on tariff and currency movements, which have the potential to significantly impact both our passenger and cargo businesses.”