Cathay Pacific Airways says Cathay Pacific and Dragonair combined saw a 4.3 per cent tonnage uplift in 2015, while it has concerns what impact overcapacity and pressure on yields will have moving forward.

For the whole of last year the carriers handled 1,797,785 tonnes.

They also saw a 1.4 per cent increase in cargo and mail tonnage in December, compared to the same month in 2014, handling 158,741 tonnes of cargo and mail.

In December the cargo and mail load factor fell by 0.3 percentage points to 67.9 per cent, and for the year it was 64.2 per cent, down 0.1 of a percentage point.

Capacity, measured in available cargo/mail tonne kilometres, was up by 2.4 per cent in December, and was 16.4 million for 2015, up 5.4 per cent.

The cargo and mail revenue tonne kilometres (RTKs) flown increased by two per cent in December to 952,471 and for the year it was 10,586,211 million, up 5.4 per cent.

Cathay Pacific general manager for cargo sales and marketing, Mark Sutch says: “The seasonal peak for airfreight lasted until the week before Christmas and our performance in December, at least in terms of tonnage lifted, was marginally ahead of expectations

“Demand on the transpacific and Indian routes remained robust. Unfortunately, the excess of capacity in the world’s air cargo markets made it difficult for carriers to get rates up to the kind of levels expected during the year-end peak. Overcapacity and pressure on yield will remain concerns for the industry moving into the New Year.”