Cathay Pacific and Dragonair carried a total of 2,594,459 passengers in May – an increase of 10.9% compared to the same month in 2013. The passenger load factor climbed by 4.0 percentage points to 83.0%, while capacity, measured in available seat kilometres (ASKs), increased by 5.8%. For the year to the end of May, the passenger volume rose by 6.8% compared to a 5.0% increase in capacity.

The two airlines carried 138,448 tonnes of cargo and mail in May, an increase of 13.9% compared to the same month last year. The cargo and mail load factor rose by 1.9 percentage points to 63.0%. Capacity, measured in available cargo/mail tonne kilometres, rose by 14.0% while cargo and mail revenue tonne kilometres (RTKs) flown were up by 17.5%. For the year to the end of May, tonnage rose by 7.3% while capacity was up by 10.9% and RTKs increased by 11.3%.

Cathay Pacific General Manager Revenue Management James Tong said: “We saw good demand across our passenger network in May, and in particular to destinations in Northeast Asia, Australia/New Zealand and North America. Loads were generally high in the Economy cabin, though the increase in demand to Southeast Asia fell short of capacity growth due to issues in a number of countries in that region. Demand in the premium cabins was slightly ahead of expectations last month though yield remained under considerable pressure in all classes of travel.”

Cathay Pacific General Manager Cargo Sales & Marketing Mark Sutch said: “We saw an upswing in demand out of the key Hong Kong and Mainland China markets in May, though the rumours of major product launches failed to materialise. Demand on the transpacific lanes remained robust, boosted by the beginning of the fruit season out of the US. However, the momentum in Europe continued to be weak and we trimmed back our freighter schedule to the continent accordingly. Intra-Asia demand was generally in line with expectations though exports out of Dhaka continued to be affected by the unrest in Bangladesh.”