CATHAY PACIFIC RELEASES MAY TRAFFIC FIGURES

Cathay Pacific Airways carried 952,519 passengers in May, a decline of 1.6% compared to the same month a year earlier. The amount of cargo carried fell by 10.4% to 54,910 tonnes. The fall in both passenger and cargo traffic came despite an increase of 6.7% in capacity measured in terms of available tonne kilometres.

The rise in capacity and fall in passenger numbers saw the passenger load factor slip by 6.1 percentage points to 67.9%. European routes were the worst affected with passenger traffic measured in revenue passenger kilometres falling by 7.9%. Cargo was also disappointing with the load factor falling 7.3 percentage points to 62.7%. For the year to date, the airline has carried 282,832 tonnes of cargo, 4.5% below the same period in 2000.

General Manager Network Revenue Ian Shiu said: “The air cargo market remains weak. Passenger traffic is also beginning to show the effects of the global economic slowdown, with declining load factors and a downward pressure on yields."