Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. carried 2.4% more passengers in June than it did a year earlier, the Hong Kong-based carrier said Thursday, but its passenger load factor fell because of an increase in capacity during the same period.

The Hong Kong-based carrier and its China-focused unit, Hong Kong Dragon Airlines Ltd., carried 2.27 million passengers in June. Its passenger load factor -- or the proportion of seats filled on its flights -- fell 3.9 percentage points to 81.5%. Capacity, as measured by available seat kilometers, was up 9.4% from a year earlier at 10.22 billion ARKs.

"Some routes -- including Japan, Shanghai and the Middle East -- continued to show weakness, though loads on key long-haul routes and within Southeast Asia remained high," said Tom Owen, Cathay's general manager of revenue management, adding that premium demand continued to show growth, helping to boost yield and revenue efficiency.

The airline carried 134,980 metric tons of cargo during the month, down 9.1% from a year earlier, as continued weakness of demand for trade throughout the month in its Hong Kong home market, it said.