OREANDA-NEWS. Cathay Pacific Airways today released combined Cathay Pacific and Dragonair traffic figures for September 2014 that show an increase in both the number of passengers carried and the amount of cargo and mail uplifted compared to the same month in 2013.

Cathay Pacific and Dragonair carried a total of 2,489,445 passengers in September - an increase of 4.6% compared to the same month last year. The passenger load factor fell by 0.4 percentage points to 81.0% while capacity, measured in available seat kilometres (ASKs), increased by 8.0%. For the year to the end of September, passenger volumes were up by 5.7% compared to a 5.9% increase in capacity.

The two airlines carried 147,307 tonnes of cargo and mail last month, an increase of 14.5% compared to September 2013. The cargo and mail load factor rose by 2.9 percentage points to 62.2%. Capacity, measured in available cargo/mail tonne kilometres, rose by 10.8% while cargo and mail revenue tonne kilometres (RTKs) flown were up by 16.3%. For the year to the end of September, tonnage rose by 11.7% while capacity was up 11.3% and RTKs increased by 14.5%.

Cathay Pacific General Manager Revenue Management Patricia Hwang said: "As anticipated, leisure traffic eased off after the highs of the summer peak, though demand was still generally robust in all our key markets. Loads to Europe were high while both the UK and Southwest Pacific routes were boosted by returning student traffic. We have put a lot of new capacity into North America, but the growth in passenger numbers and load factors has yet to keep pace. We saw a steady pick-up in demand in the premium cabins in September as we moved into the traditional peak period for business travel."

Cathay Pacific General Manager Cargo Sales & Marketing Mark Sutch said: "Demand out of Hong Kong and the key manufacturing regions in Mainland China and Southeast Asia continued to be strong in September, with traffic spurred by the launch of new consumer IT products in the market. Demand on the North American lanes remained strong and the Americas will remain the key focus of our cargo business as we move deeper into the peak season for airfreight. Demand to and from Europe continued to fall short of expectations."