Cathay executive bemoans foggy air cargo picture

Cathay executive bemoans foggy air cargo picture    A Cathay Pacific cargo executive said the airline and the air freight industry have suffered from a cloudy perspective on capacity and demand.
   'The chronic freefall we saw late last year and in the first quarter of 2009 has stopped, and there are increasing signs of leveling off in the cargo market, in Hong Kong and the mainland and also overseas,' said Vivian Lo, manager cargo sales and marketing for Cathay Pacific, in the July issue of the company's internal magazine, CX World. 'Up to the end of the first quarter, the industry was clouded by sentiments of panic triggered by a lack of visibility. But total tonnage support has since stabilized and the negative year-on-year margins are narrowing. The biggest challenge now is to try to get yield back up to a slightly more sensible level across the system.'
   Cathay and sister airline Dragonair saw tonnage increase in May and June compared to the previous month — though it slid substantially from the same months in 2008 — and that's at least some positive to take out of a dreary 2009, though the increases were on low bases.
   Summer is typically the slack season for air freight, the airline said, while the peak comes in October and November. Lo said she's not optimistic, but hopeful of a seasonal increase in cargo volume later this year.
   'We're hoping for some improvement in the last quarter, though we won't expect the same margin achieved in previous peaks,' she said.