Cathay Pacific and Dragonair cargo and mail volumes grew by 3.8 per cent in August with strong demand to North America and growing exports from Hong Kong and China.

The two airlines handled 153,733 tonnes in August with the load factor increasing by 2.7 percentage points to 63.3 per cent as capacity in available tonne kilometres was reduced by 2.6 per cent.

In the first eight months of the year cargo and mail volumes increased by 1.2 per cent to 1.77 million tonnes, though the load factor was down 0.6 percentage points to 62.7 per cent. Available tonne kilometres were up 0.3 per cent and revenue tonne kilometres down 0.7 per cent.

Cathay Pacific general manager cargo sales & marketing, Mark Sutch says August has been robust and tonnage has stabilised.

He says: “Freighters on our North American routes were generally full. We now see the momentum for exports out of Hong Kong and Mainland China building. As expected, the yields are gradually improving although there remains a gap when compared with the same period last year.”

Sutch adds that Cathay Pacific plans to operate its maximum freighter schedule over the coming peak season to meet forecast demand from new product launches.