On January 10, Cathay Pacific Airways released traffic figures for December 2006 that show continued growth in the number of passengers and amount of cargo carried. Figures for 2006 as a whole show both passenger growth and cargo growth keeping above the airline's rise in capacity.

Last month the airline carried a total of 1,495,023 passengers, up 5.9% on the same month in 2005. The passenger load factor was 81.2%, up one percentage point year on year, while capacity, measured in available seat kilometres (ASKs), rose by 3.3%. The number of passengers carried in the whole of 2006 was 16,727,757 - up 8.4% on the previous year and ahead of a cumulative passenger capacity increase for the year of 7.7%. The load factor for the year was 79.9%.

In December Cathay Pacific carried 108,842 tonnes of cargo, a rise of 3.7% on the same month in 2005 and above a 3.6% gain in capacity, measured in available cargo/mail tonne kilometres. There was no growth in the cargo load factor during the month. For 2006 as a whole the load factor was up 1.3 points to 68.3%, while the amount of freight carried rose by 7.2% to 1,198,703 tonnes. Capacity growth lagged behind at 5.2%.

Cathay Pacific General Manager Revenue Management, Sales & Distribution Ian Shiu said: "December was a good month and business was particularly strong over the Christmas holiday peak. The load factor was high at 81.2% and we were pleased to see demand in the front end holding up. For the year as a whole saw the increase in passenger numbers staying ahead of capacity growth, with strong corporate demand helping to buoy yields."

Cathay Pacific Director & General Manager Cargo Ron Mathison said: "Our performance in December was helped by the recent launch of a twice-weekly Beijing freighter service and five extra flights a week to and from Shanghai, where demand remains strong. Our long-haul services to North America and Europe continue to do well but yields are under pressure in the face of more competition from neighbouring hubs in the region. We are also seeing an increasing shift of air cargo to marine, particularly out of Japan and Korea, as a result of high fuel prices."