Cathay sees strong demand in August

Cathay Pacific Airways experienced a strong rise in passenger traffic last month.

Releasing its figures for August 2013, the Hong Kong-based airline revealed that it carried 2.75 million passengers during the month – an increase of 5.3% compared to August 2012. The result was especially impressive as the airline actually reduced its available seat capacity by 0.4%. This allowed average load factors to increase 3.6 percentage points to a strong 86.7%.

Growth was driven by strong demand for regional flights. Routes to Northeast Asia (+7.9%) and mainland China (+7.3%) grew strongly, while an 11.3% rise in demand for European flights offset a 3.6% drop in North American traffic,

“The strong demand we saw in July carried through into August with some very high load factors in our economy cabins, particularly on long-haul routes and the main holiday destinations within Asia. The fact that we saw an increase in passenger numbers despite a drop in capacity highlights the strength of traffic over the summer peak, particularly in the home market. Demand in the premium cabins was relatively soft, in line with expectations, though we expect to see an uptick as we move in the traditional peak period for corporate travel,” said Cathay’s general manager for revenue management, James Tong.

For the first eight months of the year, Cathay has now carried a total of 19.93m passengers, up 2.6% year-on-year, while average load factors increased 1.9 percentage points to 82.5%.