Cathay Pacific Airways has seen cargo increase seven per cent in July compared to the same month last year – fuelled by strong perishable exports from the the Americas.

Cathay Pacific and Dragonair combined carried 158,022 tonnes of cargo and mail in July, an increase of 7.1% compared to the same month last year. The cargo and mail load factor rose by 2.9 percentage points to 64.7 per cent.

Capacity, measured in available cargo/mail tonne kilometres, rose by 1.2 per cent while cargo and mail revenue tonne kilometres (RTKs) increased by 5.8 per cent.

In the first seven months of 2016, the tonnage carried rose by 0.8 per cent against a 0.7 per cent increase in capacity and a 1.1 per cent drop in RTKs.

Cathay Pacific general manager for cargo sales and marketing, Mark Sutch says: “Helped by strong perishable exports from the Americas, the overall tonnage for July remained healthy, although revenues continue to be affected by dampened yields.

“We saw month-end pick-up and a stronger feed out of our home market and Southeast Asia. Demand to both the Americas and India was strong, while we were able to capture more exports out of mainland China due to a reduction in the overall market capacity.

“The business environment remains challenging, but we have seen a growth in demand for special products and we will continue to diversify.”