CATHAY PACIFIC RELEASES AUGUST TRAFFIC FIGURES

Cathay Pacific Airways carried a record 1,087,480 passenger in August, the third new monthly record it has set this year. The figure marginally surpassed the previous record of 1,085,533 passengers set in July. The airline has now carried 7.93 million passengers in the first eight months of this year, a rise of 15.1% over the same period in 1999.

North Asian routes have seen exceptionally strong growth with revenue passenger kilometres (RPKs) rising by 16.9% over the first eight months. The overall passenger load factor for August was 83.1%, bringing the load factor for the year to date to 77.6%, a rise of 7.2 percentage points above the same period in 1999.

Cathay Pacific’s General Manager Network Revenue Ian Shiu said: “It is certainly encouraging to set yet another record for the number of passengers carried in a month. Although the summer peak is now over, the outlook for traffic remains positive.”