Combined traffic volume for Cathay Pacific Airways and Dragonair continued to inch upward, rising by more than 3 percent in December 2012 year-on-year, but tonnage for the entire year fell slightly.
The Hong Kong-based sister airlines carried 146,897 tonnes of cargo and mail last month, an increase of 3.4 percent compared to December 2011. Capacity rose by 1 percent, while cargo and mail revenue rose by 0.4 percent.
For the whole of 2012, however, capacity dropped by 3.1 percent, and tonnage declined by 5.3 percent.
James Woodrow, Cathay Pacific general manager of cargo sales and marketing, said last year’s volume was “still some way behind the 2010 total” as the market has been in the doldrums since April 2011.
Nonetheless, he added that it was good to see the year ending on a stronger note.“December was the fourth month in a row that we saw year-on-year growth in tonnage.” The period saw the airlines operating close to a full freighter schedule, and adding Colombo in Sri Lanka to their freighter network.
Woodrow said that, as expected, demand dropped significantly after the pre-Christmas rush.
Photo: thetravelguru
