The Cathay Pacific Airways released combined Cathay Pacific and Dragonair traffic figures for April 2012 that show passenger numbers growing year on year against another drop in cargo and mail tonnage. A statement issued here on Wednesday said that the Cathay Pacific and Dragonair carried a total of 2,522,378 passengers in April, an increase of 11.7 per cent on the same month in 2011, while the passenger load factor rose by 2.8 percentage points to 83.1 per cent.
It pointed out that the capacity for the month, measured in available seat kilometres (ASKs), was up by 8.2 per cent. For the year to date, passenger numbers have risen by 9.7 per cent compared to a capacity increase of 8.5 per cent. The statement said that the two airlines carried 124,531 tons of cargo and mail last month, a drop of 11.0 per cent compared to April 2011. The cargo and mail load factor was down by 5.0 percentage points to 63.3 per cent. Capacity, measured in available cargo/mail tons kilometres, decreased by 6.8 per cent, while cargo and mail ton kilometres flown dropped by 13.7 per cent. For the first four months, tonnage has declined by 10.7 per cent against a capacity drop of 3.3 per cent. Cathay Pacific General Manager Revenue Management James Tong said that passenger volumes showed an increase compared to April 2011, though in the same month last year traffic to and from Japan was still being affected by the earthquake and tsunami.
