Cathay Pacific-Dragonair see cargo tonnage rise 4.1pc in July

Cathy Pacific Airways says combined traffic figures for the airline and its subsidiary Dragonair for July 2007 show that cargo tonnage has risen over the same month last year, but lagged behind the rise in capacity for the same period.

In July Cathay Pacific and Dragonair carried a total of 132,947 tonnes of cargo, an increase of 4.1 per cent over the same month a year ago, while the cargo load factor dropped by 3.1 percentage points to 66.1 per cent.

 Capacity for the month, measured in terms of available cargo and mail tonne kilometres, jumped by 10 per cent. For the year to date, combined cargo tonnage rose by 0.2 per cent compared to a capacity rise of 5.4 per cent.

 "There has been a continuing shift to ocean freight and yield is under pressure particularly on our NE Asian routes. However, demand out of mainland China remains strong and we will add more long-haul capacity to India, United States and Europe in the second half, which should boost tonnage growth," said Cathay cargo chief Ron Mathison.