Cathay Pacific and Dragonair carried a total of 2,862,680 passengers last month – a decrease of 1.3% compared to May 2015. The passenger load factor fell by 1.9 percentage points to 84.0% while capacity, measured in available seat kilometres (ASKs), grew by 0.5%. In the first five months of 2016, the number of passengers carried rose by 2.8% compared to a 4.4% increase in capacity.

The two airlines carried 145,102 tonnes of cargo and mail in May, a decrease of 1.3% compared to the same month last year. The cargo and mail load factor rose by 0.1 percentage points to 62.2%. Capacity, measured in available cargo/mail tonne kilometres, fell by 4.8% while cargo and mail revenue tonne kilometres (RTKs) fell by 4.6%. In the first five months of 2016, the tonnage carried fell by 1.7% against a 0.3% increase in capacity and a 3.7% drop in RTKs.

Cathay Pacific General Manager Revenue Management Patricia Hwang said: “May is traditionally one of the slower months for travel and we saw a further weakening in passenger demand last month. Both the number of passengers carried and the load factor dropped, despite a marginal increase in capacity, while yield continued to be affected by strong competition and weaker-than-expected premium demand. Year to date our load factor and yield have both been below expectation.”

Cathay Pacific General Manager Cargo Sales & Marketing Mark Sutch said: “May saw a further stabilisation in the tonnage being shipped out of some of our key markets, in particular Mainland China, Northeast Asia and the Southwest Pacific. As per the previous number of months, demand into India remained robust and we have increased capacity into the region to cater for this accordingly. The freightage yield, however, has continued to remain under intense pressure in what continues to be a challenging and capacity rich air cargo environment.”