Cathay Pacific Airways today released combined Cathay Pacific and Dragonair traffic figures for January 2012 that show growth in passenger numbers compared to the same month last year due to the Chinese New Year effect, while cargo and mail tonnage showed another significant year-on-year decline.

Cathay Pacific and Dragonair carried a total of 2,511,043 passengers in January - a year-on-year rise of 11.9% - while the passenger load factor rose by 0.6 percentage points to 81.9%. Capacity for the month, measured in available seat kilometres (ASKs), was up by 8.7%.

A total of 116,250 tonnes of cargo and mail was carried by the two airlines last month, a drop of 19.5% compared to the same month in 2011. The cargo and mail load factor was down by 7.9 percentage points to 59.9%. Capacity, measured in available cargo/mail tonne kilometres, fell by 6.7%, while cargo and mail tonne kilometres flown saw a decline of 17.6%.

Cathay Pacific General Manager Revenue Management James Tong said: "Year-on-year comparisons are distorted by the fact that the Chinese New Year holiday fell in January this year compared to early February in 2011. Passenger traffic over this year's holiday peak was particularly strong on the Mainland China, Korea and Southeast Asia routes, though long-haul routes also performed well due to the timing of the Lunar New Year break. However, declining yield in the Economy cabin remains an area of concern."

Cathay Pacific General Manager Cargo Sales & Marketing James Woodrow said: "Apart from a modest pre-Chinese New Year rush, the cargo markets were generally soft throughout January and were particularly weak during the holiday and post-holiday period as factories in Mainland China ceased operations. Our key markets remain soft and we have been cutting capacity aggressively to match demand on trunk routes to North America and Europe."