CATHAY PACIFIC RELEASES JANUARY TRAFFIC FIGURES

Cathay Pacific Airways carried 991,756 passengers in January, a rise of 9.7% compared to the same month in 2000. Contributing to this increase was the fact the Chinese New Year holiday fell in January rather than February this year. The early Chinese New Year had a negative impact on cargo with 49,884 tonnes carried in January, 6.2% less than in the same month a year earlier.

The best performing regions for passenger revenue were North Asia and Southeast Asia/Middle East which both saw double digit gains in revenue passenger kilometres. Long-haul routes to Europe and the United States saw lower growth. The overall passenger load factor dropped 0.8 of a percentage point to 73.1%.

Cathay Pacific’s General Manager Network Revenue Ian Shiu said: “Our revenue performance in January was rather mixed. Passenger revenue was relatively strong across most routes, particularly in the Asia region. Cargo revenue and volumes however were both affected by the early Chinese New Year.”