Cathay Pacific Group today reported that in April its two airlines Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon carried a combined 163,694 tonnes of cargo and mail last month – a drop of 6.2 per cent compared to the same month last year.
The cargo and mail load factor fell by 5.5 percentage points in April to 62.5 per cent. Capacity, measured in available freight tonne kilometres (AFTKs), was up by 0.9 per cent while cargo and mail revenue freight tonne kilometres (RFTKs) dropped by 7.3 per cent.
In the first four months of 2019, tonnage fell by 5.3 per cent against a 0.1 per cent increase in capacity and a 5.9 per cent decrease in RFTKs.
Cathay Pacific director commercial and cargo, Ronald Lam said: “The decline in air freight demand along major trade lanes continued to adversely affect our cargo business in April. It has led to decline in both volume and yield.
“Both are expected to remain difficult for the foreseeable future. Meanwhile, we continue to closely monitor the development of US-China trade relationship and its impact on the world trade flows.
“We are also pleased that our commitment to providing specialised cargo solutions was recently recognised when we became the world’s first airline to be awarded CEIV Fresh, the International Air Transportation’s (IATA) globally-recognised accreditation for quality handling of perishable products.”
