Cathay Pacific’s and Dragonair’s combined
traffic figures for February 2010 show a sharp rise in passenger
volumes, cargo and mail tonnage compared to the same month last
year when the impact of the global downturn was being deeply felt.
Last month, Cathay Pacific and Dragonair carried
a total of 2,062,187 passengers – up 14% on February 2009. The
month’s passenger load factor was 84.1%, an increase of 7.5
percentage points, while capacity for the month, measured in
available seat kilometres (ASKs), rose by 0.7%. For the first two
months of 2010 combined, the number of passengers carried was up
6.7% compared to an ASK drop of 1.6%.
Cathay Pacific General Manager Revenue
Management Tom Owen said, “The rise in passenger numbers and load
factor in February was largely a result of Chinese New Year
falling a month later than in 2009, although a general pick-up in
the quality of demand since the lows of last year’s economic
crisis has continued. Demand was buoyant across both airlines’
networks over the two-week Lunar New Year period, and we were
encouraged to see the continuation of premium traffic growth after
the holiday period ended. However premium volumes and yields in
all cabins remain materially below pre-downturn levels.”
The two airlines carried a total of 119,801
tonnes of cargo and mail last month, up 18.7% on February last
year. The cargo and mail load factor was 77.1%, a rise of 12.4
percentage points, while capacity, measured in available
cargo/mail tonne kilometres, was 2.1% down. For the year to date,
a tonnage rise of 24.9% compares to a capacity decline of 1.5%.
Cathay Pacific General Manager Cargo Sales &
Marketing Titus Diu said, “We experienced a spike in demand prior
to Chinese New Year but then, as expected, there was softening in
the key Mainland markets over the holiday period. However, demand
for the month as a whole was fairly robust and the fact that we
cancelled a number of scheduled services helped us to achieve a
high load factor together with some increases in yield.”
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