Cathay Pacific Airways today released traffic figures for March 2007 that show the combined Cathay Pacific/Dragonair passenger numbers and load factor rising over the same month in 2006, while the amount of cargo carried slipped back marginally year on year.

The two airlines together carried a total of 1,866,092 passengers in March, marking a rise of 2.7% on the previous year. The load factor for the month was 79.7%, up 3.7 percentage points on 2006, and there was also a climb in capacity - measured in available seat kilometres (ASKs) - of 1.5%. For the year to date, the number of passengers carried is up 0.7% compared to an ASK rise of 2.1%.

The amount of cargo carried by Cathay Pacific and Dragonair in March fell by 2.0% year on year to 140,002 tonnes while the cargo load factor dipped by almost 4 percentage points. Capacity for the two carriers, measured in available cargo and mail tonne kilometres, rose by 4.2% over the same month last year, while capacity for the year to date is up by the same amount.

Cathay Pacific General Manager Revenue Management, Sales & Distribution Ian Shiu said: "March fell between two major public holidays in Hong Kong this year - Chinese New Year and Easter - yet our passenger business held up very well. We are particularly encouraged by the number of front-end travellers, reflecting the positive sentiment in the Hong Kong business community at the moment, and the outlook remains positive through to the summer peak."

Cathay Pacific Director & General Manager Cargo Ron Mathison said: "Weak demand in the cargo market continued through March and for the first quarter we saw a dip in our cargo load factor and tonnage carried. There was no significant pickup following the Chinese New Year holidays and in March we saw a falloff in demand out of our key Hong Kong and Chinese Mainland markets as a result of more cargo moving by ocean instead of air."

The full figures are as below:

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