Cathay Pacific, Dragonair feel the pinch

Cathay Pacific and Dragonair carried a combined 121,966 tonnes of air cargo in May, down 13.3% from May 2008, and tonnage so far this year has dropped 16.5% , the airline's latest figures showed.

Cargo and mail load factors increased 1.2 percentage points to 68.2% but capacity for the month, measured in available cargo/mail tonne kms, dropped 16%.

Cathay Pacific general manager cargo Titus Diu said that the airline had excercised further reductions in capacity in May as a result of the downturn.

"The story in May was very much in line with the first four months of 2009, with an overall weakness in the global airfreight business and continued soft demand out of Hong Kong and mainland China," he said.  

"In terms of volumes, there are signs that the bottom of the slump has been reached, although there is no indication of any significant upswing in demand arriving soon."

The two airlines also carried fewer passengers in May as the global economic crisis and influenza outbreak dampened demand.

A combined total of 1.95m passengers used the airlines in May, which was a 7.5% drop from May 2008.