Cathay Pacific / Dragonair reports combined Traffic Figures for March 2007

Cathay Pacific and Dragonair's combined traffic figures for March 2007 show that the two airlines together carried a total of 1,866,092 passengers in March 2007, marking a rise of 2.7% on the previous year. The load factor for the month was 79.7%, up 3.7 percentage points on 2006, and there was also a climb in capacity – measured in available seat kilometres (ASKs) – of 1.5%. For the year to date, the number of passengers carried is up 0.7% compared to an ASK rise of 2.1%.

The amount of cargo carried by Cathay Pacific and Dragonair in March fell by 2% year on year to 140,002 tonnes while the cargo load factor dipped by almost 4 percentage points. Capacity for the two carriers, measured in available cargo and mail tonne kilometres, rose by 4.2% over the same month last year, while capacity for the year to date is up by the same amount.

Cathay Pacific General Manager Revenue Management, Sales & Distribution Ian Shiu said, “March fell between two major public holidays in Hong Kong this year - Chinese New Year and Easter - yet our passenger business held up very well. We are particularly encouraged by the number of front-end travellers, reflecting the positive sentiment in the Hong Kong business community at the moment, and the outlook remains positive through to the summer peak.”

Cathay Pacific Director & General Manager Cargo Ron Mathison added, “Weak demand in the cargo market continued through March and for the first quarter we saw a dip in our cargo load factor and tonnage carried. There was no significant pickup following the Chinese New Year holidays and in March we saw a falloff in demand out of our key Hong Kong and Chinese Mainland markets as a result of more cargo moving by ocean instead of air.”

See other recent news regarding: Airlines, Dragonair, Cathay Pacific