Cathay Pacific Airways today released combined Cathay Pacific and Dragonair traffic figures for March 2008 that show a continued rise in the number of passengers carried by the two airlines. Cargo tonnage also grew, but lagged marginally behind the growth in capacity.

In March a total of 2,164,663 passengers were carried by the two airlines, representing an increase of 16% over the same month in 2007. The month's passenger load factor rose by 2.4 percentage points to 82.1%, while capacity, measured in available seat kilometres (ASKs), was up by 13.7%. For the year to date, passenger numbers have grown by 15.9% compared to capacity growth of 13.1%.

Cathay Pacific and Dragonair together carried 150,202 tonnes of cargo and mail in March - a rise of 4.9% year on year - while cargo capacity, measured in available cargo/mail tonne kilometres, was up by 6.1%. The cargo load factor rose by 0.6 points to 68.2%. For the year to date, cargo tonnage has risen by 7.1% compared to a capacity rise of 8.1%.

Cathay Pacific General Manager Revenue Management, Sales & Distribution Ian Shiu said: "We are very pleased with our passenger performance last month, which was boosted by strong demand over the earlier-than-usual Easter holidays. We have added a lot of capacity on key long-haul routes in recent months but so far passenger growth has managed to keep pace. Overall, the situation looks promising through to the start of the summer peak."

Cathay Pacific Director & General Manager Cargo Ron Mathison said: "There was no significant peak before Easter, but demand out of Hong Kong and Mainland China remained strong. Yields remain under pressure, and high fuel prices are having a big impact on the bottom line of our freight business. However, we are benefiting from strong demand into and out of India, while our new twice-weekly freighter service to Hanoi and Dhaka has been well received by the market."