Cathay Pacific Airways today released combined Cathay Pacific and Dragonair traffic figures for October 2013 that show an increase in both passengers carried and passenger capacity, alongside a small year-on-year drop in cargo and mail tonnage.

Cathay Pacific and Dragonair carried a total of 2,533,066 passengers in October - an increase of 5.3% compared to the same month last year. The passenger load factor was up 3.2 percentage points to 81.5%, while capacity, measured in available seat kilometres (ASKs), increased by 1.9%. For the year to date, the number of passengers carried has increased by 3.2% against a capacity drop of 2.8%.

The two airlines carried 137,300 tonnes of cargo and mail last month, a drop of 0.9% compared to October 2012. The cargo and mail load factor fell by 2.4 percentage points to 61.6%. Capacity, measured in available cargo/mail tonne kilometres, rose by 4.0% while cargo and mail revenue tonne kilometres were the same as in October last year. For the year to date, tonnage has fallen by 1.8% compared to a 0.9% capacity increase.

Cathay Pacific General Manager Revenue Management James Tong said: "Premium traffic continued to pick up in October as we entered the peak season for corporate travel, and business was spurred by the beginning of the Canton Fair in Guangzhou. Demand out of our home markets, Hong Kong and the Pearl River Delta, was robust in October and we saw good load factors across the network, particularly in the Economy Class cabin on long-haul routes. Capacity began to show an increase for the first time this year as we strengthened frequencies on some routes and added two new destinations, Male and Siem Reap."

Cathay Pacific General Manager Cargo Sales & Marketing Mark Sutch said: "The expected airfreight peak was late in arriving but by the end of October we had begun to see a significant climb in the tonnages being shipped out of the key manufacturing centres in Mainland China and Asia, driven by consumer IT products. We began to ramp up freighter capacity on the North American lanes and mounted a number of extra sectors and charters, but demand to and from Europe remained softer than hoped. Capacity was boosted by the addition of our latest freighter destination, Guadalajara, on 19 October."