Cathay Pacific Airways today released combined Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon trafficfigures for September 2017 that show a decrease in the number of passengers carried and anincrease in cargo and mail uplifted compared to the same month in 2016.

Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon carried a total of 2,639,559 passengers last month - adecrease of 1.2% compared to September 2016. The passenger load factor dropped 2.3percentage points to 81.0%, while capacity, measured in available seat kilometres (ASKs),increased by 2.4%. In the first nine months of 2017, the number of passenger carried increasedby 0.1% while capacity rose by 2.0%.

The two airlines carried 177,691 tonnes of cargo and mail last month, an increase of 9.6%compared to the same month last year. The cargo and mail load factor rose by 3.1 percentagepoints to 68.1%. Capacity, measured in available cargo/mail tonne kilometres, was up by 2.6%while cargo and mail revenue tonne kilometres (RTKs) increased by 7.5%. In the first ninemonths of 2017, the tonnage rose by 11.6% against a 3.2% increase in capacity and a 9.3%increase in RTKs.

Cathay Pacific Director Commercial and Cargo Ronald Lam said:"Strong frontend momentumproved to be the driver for our passenger business in September, which was a result of growingdemand for business traffic. After a generally lacklustre start, which was reflected by a low loadfactor, backend demand steadily increased and was strong in the lead up to the National Dayand Mid-Autumn Festival holiday week in early October. Headwinds in the form of revenuedecline persisted in several of our key long-haul markets, although our routes to Japan provedparticularly popular, with a significant increase in demand recorded.

"Meanwhile, the performance of our cargo business remained robust. We ramped up ourfreighter capacity on transpacific, India and China routes to commensurate with growing demand,and also added a charter operation to the United States. Tonnage growth was well ahead ofcapacity growth, with a commendable load factor achieved on both long-haul routes as well asregional services. The week of 17-23 September saw us break the company's all time weeklyuplift tonnage record. A high freight load factor has also helped to underpin a sustained recoveryin cargo yields." 

Contributed by Cathay Pacific