Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon carried 177,691 tonnes of cargo and mail in September, an increase of 9.6 per cent compared to the same month last year.

The cargo and mail load factor rose by 3.1 percentage points to 68.1 per cent. Capacity, measured in available cargo/mail tonne kilometres, was up by 2.6 per cent while cargo and mail revenue tonne kilometres (RTKs) increased by 7.5 per cent.

In the first nine months of 2017, the tonnage rose by 11.6 per cent against a 3.2 per cent increase in capacity and a 9.3 per cent increase in RTKs.

Cathay Pacific director of commercial and cargo, Ronald Lam says: “The performance of our cargo business remained robust. We ramped up our freighter capacity on transpacific, India and China routes to commensurate with growing demand, and also added a charter operation to the United States.

“Tonnage growth was well ahead of capacity growth, with a commendable load factor achieved on both long-haul routes as well as regional services. The week of 17-23 September saw us break the company’s all time weekly uplift tonnage record. A high freight load factor has also helped to underpin a sustained recovery in cargo yields.”