OREANDA-NEWS. June 26, 2012. Cathay Pacific Airways released combined Cathay Pacific and Dragonair traffic figures for May 2012 that show a year-on-year growth in passenger numbers alongside a significant drop in cargo and mail tonnage, reported the press-centre of Cathay Pacific.

Cathay Pacific and Dragonair carried a total of 2,358,171 passengers in May – an increase of 6.8% on the same month in 2011 – while the passenger load factor rose by 0.2 percentage points to 78.5%. Capacity for the month, measured in available seat kilometres (ASKs), rose by 4.2%. For the year to date, passenger numbers have risen by 9.1% compared to a capacity increase of 7.6%.

The two airlines carried 123,403 tonnes of cargo and mail last month, a drop of 10.6% compared to May 2011. The cargo and mail load factor was down by 5.9 percentage points to 62.3%. Capacity, measured in available cargo/mail tonne kilometres, decreased by 7.3%, while cargo and mail tonne kilometres flown dropped by 15.3%. For year to date, tonnage has declined by 10.7% against a capacity drop of 4.1%.

Cathay Pacific General Manager Revenue Management James Tong said: “Demand on the passenger side remained robust throughout May, boosted by the enhancement of both Cathay Pacific and Dragonair’s regional services. Dragonair added four new destinations to its network in May. We continued to see a decline in yield in the Economy Class cabin on most routes. Business in the premium cabins is now being affected by a fall in yield and a lack of growth in volumes.”

Cathay Pacific General Manager Cargo Sales & Marketing James Woodrow said: "Demand once again remained soft out of the key Hong Kong and Mainland China markets in May. Demand was down on long-haul routes, particularly to Europe, though traffic within the Asia Pacific region held up well. We continue to manage capacity in line with demand, at the same time as developing new markets where possible. In May we launched a new freighter service to Hyderabad in India following on from the launch of services to Zhengzhou in Central China in late March.”