Cathay Pacific Passenger Numbers Slightly Up in August

Cathay Pacific Airways and its subsidiary Dragonair have carried a total of 2.13 million passengers in August 2008, an increase of 0.5% over August 2007.

In August 2008, the load factor was down 4.7 percentage points to 78.4%, while capacity, measured in available seat kilometers increased 14%, compared to August 2007. For the year to date, the number of passengers carried increased 11.3% to 16.9 million, compared to a capacity rise of 14.5%.

The two airlines have carried 140,589 tons of cargo and mail in August 2008, a decrease of 3.1% on the same month of 2007. Capacity, measured in available cargo/mail ton kilometers fell by 5.4%, while the cargo and mail load factor rose by 0.6 percentage points to 65.9%.

Tom Owen, general manager of revenue management at Cathay Pacific, said: “The number of passengers carried rose only marginally in August against a significant rise in capacity compared to 2007, mainly on routes to Australia, North America and India.”