Swine 'flu continues to hurt Cathay Pacific traffic

Cathay Pacific and Dragonair carried a combined 123,860 tonnes in June, down 10% from June 2008, and tonnage so far this year has fallen 15.4%, the airline's latest figures showed.

Cargo and mail load factors load fell by 3.8 percentage points from June 2008 to 71.3%.

However, Cathay Pacific cargo general manager Titus Diu believed the worst may be over.

"There are signs that the airfreight market has bottomed out though as yet we are not seeing any sustained upswing in demand," Mr Diu said.

"Competition in the various cargo markets we serve remains fierce and yields remains under considerable pressure."

Passenger numbers for the two carriers also plunged in June as concerns about swine flu damped demand for travel.

The airlines carried a combined total of  1.7m  passengers in June, down 18% from June 2008,  while the load factor dipped by 4.5 percentage points from a year ago to 76.8%.

Cathay Pacific manager Tom Owen said that the swine flu, also known as H1N1, had put a dent in  what was usually a relatively stable month for passenger numbers.

"We normally see a pick-up in demand in June as summer approaches but this year demand was depressed by the ongoing global economic recession and the reluctance of passengers to fly as a result of the widely reported H1N1 outbreak," Mr Owen said.  

"The H1N1 situation had a particularly severe impact on our largest market, Hong Kong, as well as on Japanese routes."