Cathay increase thwarted by over capacity

CATHAY Pacific and its China-based subsidiary, Dragonair, have announced that their May traffic fell 13.3 per cent from last year – to 121,966 metric tons. This means overall tonnage is down 16.5 per cent.

Cargo and mail load factors did actually increase slightly – by 1.2 per cent to 68.2 per cent – but capacity dropped 16 per cent.

Titus Diu, Cathay Pacific general manager of cargo, said: “The story in May was very much in line with the first four months of 2009, with an overall weakness in the global airfreight business and continued soft demand out of Hong Kong and mainland China.

“In terms of volumes, there are signs that the bottom of the slump has been reached, although there is no indication of any significant upswing in demand arriving soon.”