Cathay April cargo throughput down 8.4%

Cathay Pacific Airways April passenger volume rose 4.1 percent but cargo throughput fell 8.4 percent on weaker demand from major manufacturing areas of China, reported Reuters.


Cathay, the world's biggest international air-cargo carrier, moved 139,944 tonnes of cargo and mail last month, taking total volume for the first four months to 562,805 tonnes, down 0.3 percent from the same period last year.


The cargo and mail load factor was down 11 percentage points to 68.3 percent, it said in a statement.


Its key Hong Kong market remained soft in April, while demand out of major manufacturing areas in China weakened further, particularly to Europe, said general manager, cargo sales and marketing, James Woodrow.


The outbound weakness was partly offset by fairly robust demand into Asia, he said.


"We reduced our freighter services on long-haul trunk routes in line with demand last month and will do the same in May as the markets stay quiet," he said.


Passenger numbers rose to 2.26 million in April, thanks to the Easter holiday, but Japan routes were expected to remain weak due to the March earthquake and tsunami.


"Premium demand continued to be generally firm, benefiting from the Canton Fair. The continued slump on Japan routes remains a concern, with few signs yet of a material pick-up," said general manager, revenue management, Tom Owen.


Cathay said its load factor eased 3.6 percentage points in April to 80.3 percent. For the first four months, the number of passengers carried rose 1.7 percent while capacity increased by 10.1 percent.


Cathay's cargo business is more China-focused and it recently launched Air China Cargo, a joint venture with partner Air China, and announced the consolidation of their cargo businesses.
(Source:http://www.cargonewsasia.com)