Cathay sees 7.4% drop in October cargo tonnage

Cathay sees 7.4% drop in October cargo tonnage Cathay Pacific said Wednesday that the amount of cargo and mail it handled in October fell 7.4 percent compared to October 2007.
   The Hong Kong-based carrier, together with sister airline Dragonair, reported volume of 144,466 tons, while capacity fell 2.6 percent. The cargo and mail load factor dropped 2.9 percent to 65.9 percent. For the year to date, cargo and mail tonnage has climbed 2.4 percent compared to a capacity rise of 2.8 percent.
   “Usually we see a surge in our cargo business in October but this year demand was weaker than expected in most of our key markets, including Hong Kong,” said Titus Diu, Cathay Pacific general manager of cargo sales and marketing, in a statement. “We saw no significant post-Olympics pickup out of China while the mini-peak anticipated after the National Day holidays in the Mainland didn't materialize. We worked to offset weakening demand by combining freighter flights or making ad hoc cancellations where possible.”