Softening cargo growth at Cathay Pacific

Softening cargo growth at Cathay Pacific

Cathay Pacific Cargo

Cathay Pacific says it has seen a “softening” in cargo growth as the year has progressed and there was continuation of this trend in June.

Combined cargo and mail volumes for Cathay Pacific Airways and Dragonair was 141,136 tonnes, which was a slight YOY rise of 0.5 per cent compared to June 2014.

Last month was the second slowest in 2015 and down on May when total tonnage was 147,034 tonnes, a monthly YOY rise of 6.2 per cent. It was also below April, when the airlines handled 144,579 tonnes, a YOY increase of 5.2 per cent.

March was the busiest month so far this year when 157,688 tonnes were handled and YOY growth of 1.5 per cent. In February tonnage rose YOY by 28.8 per cent to 130,467 tonnes. In January the airlines handled 147,275 tonnes, a YOY surge of 12.5 per cent.

In June, the cargo and mail load factor fell YOY by 2.2 percentage points to 62.7 per cent. Capacity, measured in available cargo/mail tonne kilometres, rose YOY by 5.9 per cent to 1.3 million. Cargo and mail revenue tonne kilometres (RTK) flown increased YOY by 2.2 per cent to 835,000.

In the first six months of 2015, tonnage rose YOY by eight per cent to 868,000 tonnes against a YOY capacity increase of 8.9 per cent to 7.9 million and a 10.5 per cent YOY rise in RTK to 5.1 million.

Cathay Pacific general manager for cargo sales and marketing, Mark Sutch, explains: “Last month’s tonnage growth was almost flat year on year and fell well short of the increase in capacity in percentage terms. Traffic out of the home market was generally steady, but demand out of mainland China was more sporadic, and was again affected by strong competition.”

Sutch says by leveraging its strong network in South East Asia it helped maintain traffic flows on transpacific services and Cathay Pacific did not trim capacity on these lanes. “Conversely, demand from Asia to Europe remained weak and we pared back freighter services on these routes, relying instead on our extensive passenger aircraft belly lift,” Sutch adds.

Picture of James Graham

James Graham

James Graham is an award-winning transport media journalist with a long background in the commercial freight sector, including commercial aviation and the aviation supply chain. He was the initial Air Cargo Week journalist and retuned later for a stint as editor. He continues his association as editor of the monthly supplements. He has reported for the newspaper from global locations as well as the UK.

Newsletter

Stay informed. Stay ahead. To get the latest air cargo news and industry trends delivered directly to your inbox, sign up now!

related articles

Global air cargo sees modest recovery post-Lunar New Year

Brussels Airport reports strong cargo growth in January 2025

Magma Aviation expands and enhances operations in 2024

WAIT... BEFORE YOU GO

Get the ACW Daily Newsletter for up-to-the-minute news on everything important in the airfreight industry

Logo Air Cargo Week