OREANDA-NEWS. January 22, 2015. Cathay Pacific Airways released combined Cathay Pacific and Dragonair traffic figures for December 2014 that show a notable increase in both the number of passengers carried and the cargo and mail tonnage uplifted compared to the same month in 2013.

Cathay Pacific and Dragonair carried a total of 2,773,094 passengers in December – an increase of 6.5% compared to the same month in 2013. The passenger load factor grew by 1.1 percentage points to 83.5% while capacity, measured in available seat kilometres (ASKs), increased by 5.9%. For 2014 as a whole, passenger volumes were up by 5.5% while capacity grew by 5.9%.

The two airlines carried 156,603 tonnes of cargo and mail last month, an increase of 12.2% compared to December the previous year. The cargo and mail load factor rose by 4.9 percentage points to 68.2%. Capacity, measured in available cargo/mail tonne kilometres, rose by 6.6% while cargo and mail revenue tonne kilometres (RTKs) flown were up by 15.0%. For 2014 as a whole, tonnage rose by 12.0% while capacity was up 10.4% and RTKs increased by 14.8%.

Cathay Pacific General Manager Revenue Management Patricia Hwang said: “Passenger traffic was slightly below expectations in the first half of December, but then we finished the year with a very strong Christmas and New Year peak, breaking a number of daily uplift records over the holiday period. Demand from Hong Kong to the main holiday destinations in North Asia and Southeast Asia was consistently strong and we added extra sectors on a number of routes in response. Loads to the UK, Europe and Australia/New Zealand were also high. However, we saw a falloff in demand in the premium cabins, which put downward pressure on yield.”

Cathay Pacific General Manager Cargo Sales & Marketing Mark Sutch said: “Following on from a strong November, demand for cargo shipments remained robust right up until the beginning of the Christmas holidays in key markets. Traffic was again driven by strong demand out of Hong Kong and Mainland China, particularly on transpacific routes, and we also saw solid shipments on the main intra-Asia lanes. Demand fell away when the holidays kicked in, as expected, though the markets began to pick up again from the second week of January.”