Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon carried a total of 2,925,385 passengers last month – an increase of 4.1% compared to June 2017. The passenger load factor increased 0.2 percentage points to 85.3%, while capacity, measured in available seat kilometres (ASKs), increased by 3.8%. In the first six months of 2018, the number of passenger carried grew by 1.9% while capacity increased by 3.2%.

The two airlines carried 180,354 tonnes of cargo and mail last month, an increase of 5.8% compared to the same month last year. The cargo and mail load factor rose by 2.3 percentage points to 70.6%. Capacity, measured in available freight tonne kilometres (AFTKs), was up by 2.0% while cargo and mail revenue freight tonne kilometres (RFTKs) increased by 5.5%. In the first six months of 2018, the tonnage rose by 7.5% against a 4.1% increase in capacity and a 7.3% increase in RFTKs.

Cathay Pacific Director Commercial and Cargo Ronald Lam said: “Frontend demand across our network remained strong during the period, while backend demand also picked up moderately thanks in part to the Dragon Boat Festival and 1 July holidays. Our European and United Kingdom routes performed relatively well. A small yield growth came on the back of improved business travel and traffic mix over last year. In terms of cargo, tonnage picked up towards end of the month. We observed a particular rise in demand on routes to Japan, owing to some capacity tightening in the market, while there was also increased uplift into the United States from Hong Kong and mainland China.

Looking ahead, we are closely monitoring geopolitical developments and their effect on tariff and currency movements, which have the potential to significantly impact both our passenger and cargo businesses .”