Cathay rates soar

CATHAY Pacific’s chief executive, Tony Tyler (right), has said that the carrier’s freight rates have increased threefold since August to HK$45 (US$5.8) per kilogram. However, he only attributes this to a 14 per cent increase in demand above target.“We still anticipate that this year’s peak will last longer than usual, running to mid-December,” Tyler said, adding that the company’s strategy was to focus on improving yield, but that he still expected “a long uphill climb” before the business recovered to pre-slump levels.