Cathay Pacific to service Miami and Houston
Cathay Pacific Airways will soon expand its global freighter network with services to two new destinations in the United States.
On March 6, the airline will add Miami and Houston to its list of U.S. freighter destinations, which currently includes New York, Chicago, Dallas, Atlanta, Los Angeles and San Francisco. The new services will follow a Hong Kong-Anchorage-Miami-Houston-Anchorage-Hong Kong routing and will be operated three times a week using state-of-the-art Boeing 747-400ERF aircraft.
In January, the airline added Jakarta and Ho Chi Minh City to its freighter network. On February 12, the airline increased service to Milan, Italy, adding three more flights a week, for a total of six-times-weekly service.
“Our cargo business is currently facing a big challenge due to the worldwide economic downturn,” Cargo Director Rupert Hogg said, “making it all the more important to seek out new markets and find ways to develop our business over the long term.
“We are pleased to announce the new services to Miami and Houston, which both provide good connections into the emerging markets of South and Central America. We are confident our four new freighter destinations, together with the enhancement of our services to Milan, will bring long-term benefits.”
With the addition of the new services, Cathay Pacific will operate cargo flights to 38 destinations, using 22 freighters. The airline is moving to a more fuel-efficient fleet, with three out of six Boeing 747-400ERFs now delivered and 10 new Boeing 747-8Fs due for delivery, starting in 2010.
More passengers for Cathay Pacific, Dragonair
The combined Cathay Pacific and Dragonair traffic figures for January show an increase in the number of passengers carried compared to the same month in 2008, partly as a result of the Chinese New Year peak period. During the month, both carriers saw a substantial decline in cargo and mail tonnage.
The airlines carried 2,092,669 passengers in January, a 2.4% increase year-on-year, while the load factor fell 2.8 percentage points to 79.5%. This compares to a 4.7% increase in passenger capacity, measured in available seat kilometers, for the month.
The two airlines carried 101,154 metric tons of cargo and mail in January, down 26% year-on-year, while capacity, measured in available cargo/mail metric ton kilometers, declined 15.9%. The cargo and mail load factor dropped 4.5 percentage points to 59.1%.
Marginal passenger traffic growth at HKIA
In January, passenger traffic at Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) grew 0.2% year-on-year to 4 million. During the same comparison period, cargo volume dropped 28.9% to 210,000 metric tons, while air traffic movements declined 2% to 24,245.
The steep fall in cargo volume is due to continuously shrinking international trade caused by the global economic downturn. Almost all major HKIA markets experienced double-digit declines during the month. While imports from Japan, Europe and Southeast Asia dropped most significantly, exports to Europe, North America and Taiwan showed the biggest decrease. Transhipments to and from Taiwan, the Chinese mainland and Southeast Asia were also hit.
Although the number of visitors, particularly from long-haul markets like North America and Europe, saw a double-digit decline from January 2008, overall passenger throughput still recorded a marginal increase. However, this marginal increase should be viewed in the context of the Chinese New Year holidays, which occurred in January this year when Hong Kong people's outbound travel increased, but took place in February last year.
“The aviation industry is a reflection of the general economic situation, and the declines we are experiencing in the aviation industry are largely consistent with what is happening with the global economy,” Airport Authority Chief Executive Officer Stanley Hui said. “As companies continue to keep a tight rein on their business activities and consumers on their spending, drops in air traffic figures covering passenger, cargo and aircraft movements will likely continue, with particularly notable declines on the cargo front.”
Mr. Hui said he remains confident in the long-term traffic performance of HKIA because the Mainland economy is relatively more stable and stronger than other economies worldwide. In addition, globalization in normal market conditions will continue to fuel the growth of international trade and demand for aviation services.
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