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Cathay Pacific’s and Dragonair’s combined traffic
figures for February 2009 show a drop in the number of passengers
carried and another pronounced fall in cargo and mail tonnage compared
to the same month last year. The decline in numbers is partly as a
result of Chinese New Year falling in February 2008 while this year it
was in January.
In February 2009, Cathay Pacific and Dragonair
between them carried a total of 1,809,188 passengers – a fall of
7.4% compared to the same month in 2008 - while the load factor
fell by 1 percentage point to 76.6%. Capacity for the month,
measured in available seat kilometres (ASKs), dropped by 3.7%. For
the year to date, the number of passengers carried is down by 2.4%
while capacity has risen by 0.6%.
The two airlines carried
a total of 100,906 tonnes of cargo and mail last month, down 16.7%
on February 2008, while capacity, measured in available cargo/mail
tonne kilometres, fell by exactly the same percentage. The cargo
and mail load factor rose by 0.1 percentage points to 64.7%. For
the year to date, tonnage has fallen by 19.4% compared to a
capacity drop of 16.3%.
Cathay Pacific General Manager
Revenue Management Tom Owen said, “Our passenger numbers showed a
decline in February, partly due to the Chinese New Year
peak falling in February last year, and also due to the
continuing deep slump in premium cabin demand. Leisure
demand held up relatively well, but needed to be
stimulated by a raft of promotional fares in most
markets, although the drop in passenger numbers was
still bigger than the decline in capacity. The outlook
for premium-cabin demand remains persistently weak and
this, coupled with a downward pressure on fares and
negative currency movements, is putting tremendous
pressure on yield.”
Cathay Pacific General
Manager Cargo Sales & Marketing Titus Diu added, “The airfreight
market remained weak in February, though our figures look a little
better than last month due to the Chinese New Year effect. There
was no sustained post-holiday pickup this year and many of the
factories in the Pearl and Yangtze River Deltas remained closed
for much longer than usual. The market out of Hong Kong remained
depressed throughout February though there was a slightly better
performance for inbound traffic. We are continuing to look for new
revenue streams and on 6 March launched a new service to Miami and
Houston.”
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February 2009
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