Cathay Pacific Airways and Dragonair carried over 2.6 lakh passengers in August

Cathay Pacific Releases Combined Traffic Figures for August 2012

KOLKATA: Cathay Pacific Airways and Dragonair combined traffic figures for August 2012 show an increase in the number of passengers carried alongside a drop in the passenger load factor.

While Cathay Pacific and Dragonair carried a total of 2,610,150 passengers in August - up 4.0% on the same month in 2011, the passenger load factor dropped by 1.1 percentage points to 83.1%. Capacity for the month, measured in available seat kilometres (ASKs), rose by 3.0%. For the year to date, passenger numbers have risen by 6.7% compared to a capacity in-crease of 5.8%.

The two airlines carried 122,351 tonnes of cargo and mail last month, indicating a 6.9% drop compared to August 2011. The cargo and mail load factor was down by 3.0 percentage points to 61.9%. Capacity, measured in available cargo/mail tonne kilometres, decreased by 6.1%, while cargo and mail tonne kilometres flown dropped by 10.4%. For the year to date, tonnage has declined by 9.6% against a capacity drop of 5.5%.

Cathay Pacific general manager revenue management James Tong attributed the drop in load factor to a number of typhoons in the region which impacted business in August. On the other hand, the Olympics dampened demand to London. "We also operated fewer extra sectors over the summer than in 2011. Yield remained under pressure in all cabins," he said.