ACW - Air Cargo Week
12/16/2011
Cathay says ‘peak simply didn’t arrive’
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Cathay Pacific and sister carrier Dragonair handled a total of 132,430 tonnes of cargo and mail in November, 13, 8 percent less than during the same month a year previously.
The Hong Kong-based sister carriers flew 794 million cargo and mail tonne-km in November, 9.8 percent less than a year earlier and, with available capacity having risen by 1.1 percent year-on-year to 1.22 billion tonne-km, the combined cargo and mail load factor fell by 6.3 percentage points to 65.3 percent.
James Woodrow, Cathay Pacific general manager cargo sales and marketing, said: "November is traditionally the busiest time for our cargo business in the build-up to the Christmas season in the US and Europe, but the peak simply didn't arrive this year.
"Demand out of our key Hong Kong and China markets was soft throughout the month and we reduced capacity accordingly," he noted.
"On the positive side, demand within the region remained relatively healthy and our new service to Zaragoza in Spain got off to a good start," Woodrow added.
Over the course of the first 11 months of this year, Cathay Pacific and Dragonair carried 1.5 million tonnes of cargo and mail, down by 8.2 percent year-on-year.
Between them, the two airlines flew 8.8 billion freight tonne-km, 4.8 percent less than over the same period of 2010.
Available capacity actually rose by 7.2 percent year-on-year and as a consequence the load factor for the January - November period fell by 8.4 percentage points to 67.1 percent.
>>Tradelink Electronic Commerce, Cathay Pacific and Global Logistic System (HK) are collaborating in a joint effort to promote paper-free air freight shipping between Hong Kong and Germany.
Lionel Kwok, CEO of Global Logistics System (HK), said the move "will certainly bring huge benefit to the air freight industry in terms of increased efficiency, improved visibility and cost saving".
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