Cathay Pacific Releases Combined Traffic Figures for November 2011

Cathay Pacific Airways today released combined Cathay Pacific and Dragonair traffic figures for November 2011 that show the growth in passenger numbers again failing to match capacity growth, while cargo and mail tonnage showed another significant year-on-year decline.

Cathay Pacific and Dragonair carried a total of 2,274,128 passengers last month - up 4.2% on November last year - while the passenger load factor fell by 2.0 percentage points to 78.5%. Capacity for the month, measured in available seat kilometres (ASKs), was up by 8.6%. For the year to date, the number of passengers carried has increased by 2.5% compared to a capacity increase of 9.2%

The two airlines carried 132,430 tonnes of cargo and mail in November, a year-on-year drop of 13.8%. The cargo and mail load factor was down by 6.3 percentage points to 65.3%. Capacity, measured in available cargo/mail tonne kilometres, fell by 1.1%, while cargo and mail tonne kilometres flown were down by 9.8%. For the year to date, tonnage has dropped by 8.2% while capacity has increased by 7.2%.

Cathay Pacific General Manager Revenue Management James Tong said: "Once again the growth in passenger traffic could not keep pace with the increase in capacity, which accounts for the dip in load factor. It was a similar story to previous months with demand in the premium cabins remaining robust, while in the Economy cabins yield came under increasing pressure, on long-haul routes in particular. Bookings for the upcoming Christmas travel peak are in line with expectations, but the outlook for the early part of 2012 is still very uncertain."

Cathay Pacific General Manager Cargo Sales & Marketing James Woodrow said: "November is traditionally the busiest time for our cargo business in the build-up to the Christmas season in the US and Europe, but the peak simply didn't arrive this year. Demand out of our key Hong Kong and China markets was soft throughout the month and we reduced capacity accordingly. On the positive side, demand within the region remained relatively healthy and our new service to Zaragoza in Spain got off to a good start."