Combined Cathay Pacific and Dragonair traffic figures for March 2012 showed a decline in cargo and mail tonnage compared to the same month last year, Cathay Pacific Airways reported in an April 16 news release.
Cathay Pacific and Dragonair carried 144,140 tonnes of cargo and mail last month, a drop of 10.7 percent compared to March 2011. The cargo and mail load factor was down by 2.7 percentage points to 68.3 percent.
Capacity, measured in available cargo/mail tonne kilometers, decreased by 2.9 percent, while cargo and mail tonne kilometers flown dropped by 6.7 percent.
For the first quarter, tonnage has declined by 10.5 percent while capacity is down by 2.1 percent.
“March was the strongest month of the year so far for our cargo business. This was thanks to large shipments of hi-tech consumer products from China to key markets around the world combined with capacity reductions by both Cathay Pacific and our competitors,” said James Woodrow, Cathay Pacific general manager for cargo sales and marketing.
“However,” he added, “the general market for airfreight remains soft, particularly into Europe. There is poor visibility looking forward and little sign of any sustained pick-up in demand. We expect business to be weaker in April and we will continue to reduce capacity as necessary.”
Photo: PhillipC
