Holiday Traffic drives Passenger Numbers for Dragonair

Passenger numbers at Dragonair rose by double digits in July 2005, boosted by seasonal summer holiday traffic. The airline flew a total of 455,468 passengers in the month, up 11.9% month-on-month and 10.3% year-on-year.

“It was a good start to the busy summer holiday season,” said Dragonair CEO Stanley Hui. “Holiday traffic was particularly strong, while the number of individual travellers also increased.”

Cities in the Mainland and in Taiwan saw the biggest growth in traveller numbers during the month.

Meanwhile, cargo posted a 16.1% year-on-year jump on the back of increased frequencies and new destinations. The airline carried 32,746 tonnes of cargo in July, compared with 28,195 one year earlier.

“The year-on-year growth in cargo continues to vindicate our decision to expand our all-cargo network and increase frequencies,” explained Mr. Hui. “The month-on-month rise of 3.4% reflects the usual increase in cargo demand as we embark on the second half of the year.”

He noted, however, “Once again, the positive performance was undermined by the strength of the price of oil, which seems to reach new highs every month. It is a major concern as it is having a significant impact on our bottom-line figures.”

“In addition, our flights to Beijing and eastern China cities continued to be affected by air traffic control restrictions and bad weather, which resulted in an unusually high number of delays and disruption to flights.”

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