Dragonair enjoys Record Passenger Numbers in April 2006

Dragonair flew a record number of passengers in April 2006, buoyed by the Easter holidays, the start of the Golden Week break and a number of large trade exhibitions in Hong Kong.

Some 481,327 passengers travelled with the airline, an increase of 11.5% year-on-year, and 1.5% higher than the previous record of 474,047, set in October last year.

“Both individual and group travel was stronger in the month,” said CEO Stanley Hui. “Individual travel was boosted by several large trade shows in Hong Kong, while the holidays saw leisure travel rise, particularly from Hong Kong, Taipei and Beijing. This enabled us to break through the 480,000-passenger level for the first time in a single month.”

The holidays also had an effect on freight shipments, with the amount of cargo carried at 33,812 tonnes in April, up 0.8% year-on-year, but down 6.8% on March.

“The base of comparison was high, given that March marked the end of the first quarter and exporters had orders to meet,” Mr. Hui explained. “We did, however, see an upswing in exports to Europe and the US from China ahead of the start of the Golden Week holidays, when many factories in the Pearl River Delta temporarily close.”

He added, “The oil price continued to be of particular concern during the month, with it testing new highs. We have implemented a range of measures to conserve fuel in our daily operation, and are looking for opportunities to increase our hedging profile on fuel costs whenever possible in order to mitigate the impact.

“The fuel surcharge on air tickets and airway bills continues to be an important arrangement for the airline to defray part of these heavy additional costs, which is why we have applied to the authorities for a revision in the fuel surcharge for air tickets from June 1.”

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