Cathay Pacific Group today released combined Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon traffic figures for December 2018 that show an increase in the number of passengers carried and a drop in cargo and mail uplifted compared to the same month in 2017.

Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon carried a total of 3,105,829 passengers last month, an increase of 1.8% compared to December 2017. The passenger load factor decreased 0.8 percentage points to 83.8%, while capacity, measured in available seat kilometres (ASKs), increased by 5.8%. For 2018 as a whole, the number of passengers carried grew by 1.9% while capacity increased by 3.5%.

The two airlines carried 182,863 tonnes of cargo and mail last month, a decrease of 4.9% compared to the same month last year. The cargo and mail load factor fell by 4.2 percentage points to 67.7%. Capacity, measured in available freight tonne kilometres (AFTKs), remained unchanged while cargo and mail revenue freight tonne kilometres (RFTKs) decreased by 5.9%. For 2018 as a whole, the tonnage rose by 4.7% against a 2.6% increase in capacity and a 4.2% increase in RFTKs.

Cathay Pacific Director Commercial and Cargo Ronald Lam said: “Business Class demand remained strong during December, with premium leisure traffic over the holiday period being a key driver. We also saw improved yield in Economy Class, especially on our popular regional routes to Japan, Korea, Taiwan and the Philippines.

“Turning to cargo, we finished the year-end peak with strong movements of cargo in the weeks leading up to Christmas and demand slowed down towards the end of the month. Uncertainty remains in the coming months regarding the trade situation between China and the United States.”