Cathay Pacific Airways today released combined Cathay Pacific and Dragonair traffic figures for August 2007 that show a rise in both the number of passengers carried and the amount of cargo uplifted over the same month last year.

In August Cathay Pacific and Dragonair carried a total of 2,119,847 passengers, up 4.9% on the same month in 2006. The passenger load factor was high for the peak summer month at 83.1%, though there was only a marginal year-on-year rise. August's capacity, measured in available seat kilometres (ASKs), was up 2.7%. Year-to-date figures show passenger numbers up 2% against an ASK rise of 1.7%.

Cargo tonnage for the two airlines rose 12.1% to 142,597 tonnes last month, though it lagged behind a capacity rise of 14.1%. The cargo and mail load factor was down by 1.7 points to 65.3%. Figures for the year to date show combined cargo tonnage rising by 1.7% against a capacity increase of 6.5%.

Cathay Pacific General Manager Revenue Management, Sales & Distribution Ian Shiu said: "The strong traffic we saw in July continued through August, with passenger numbers for both Cathay Pacific and Dragonair boosted by the summer holiday peak. Demand in the front end held up better than expected over the summer and should pick up further as we move into one of the busiest periods for business travel."

Cathay Pacific Director & General Manager Cargo Ron Mathison said: "The cargo market showed signs of becoming more buoyant in August, though our tonnage growth still lagged behind growth in capacity. Demand out of Mainland China continued strong but yield remained under pressure on Northeast Asian routes. We recently added another flight each week to Dallas and Atlanta, turning it in a daily service, due to high demand on this comparatively new route."

The full figures are as below:

Note:(i)   Comparative figures excluding Dragonair 2006 traffic / capacity
        (ii)   Comparative figures including Dragonair 2006 traffic / capacity