Holidays, New Tokyo service push Dragonair's Passenger numbers higher in April 04

The Easter and Ching Ming holidays in April, combined with the launch of services to Tokyo, helped push Dragonair's passenger numbers 10% higher month-on-month.

Some 381,586 passengers flew with Dragonair in the month of April, a rise of 34,617 compared with March.

"People took the opportunity provided by the two holidays to take a break, resulting in double-digit passenger growth," said Chief Executive Officer Stanley Hui.

"The addition of Tokyo to our network on April 2, one day after visa-free access was introduced for SAR and BNO passport holders from Hong Kong, was another factor in the rise. Overall, we saw good demand for individual travel in the month.

"Meanwhile, year-on-year comparisons reflected the impact of the SARS outbreak on our business last year. On that basis, passenger numbers grew 435.3%. We can expect such large disparities for several more months."

Cargo volume, meanwhile, eased slightly in April. The airline carried 27,059 tonnes, 1.5% less than in March, but a rise of 24.6% compared with one year earlier.

"Despite a slight softening in demand during the Easter holidays, cargo on the whole performed very well in the month", said Mr. Hui.

"Cargo volumes for Hong Kong as a whole fell 8.6%, according to HACTL, while our freight volume eased by only 1.5%. Part of the reason for this was the freight contribution resulting from our new Tokyo route.

"On a year-on-year basis, the increase was an encouraging 24.6%. Cargo continued to perform extremely well throughout the SARS outbreak last year."