Cathay’s June cargo up 7.6%

Cathay’s June cargo up 7.6%    Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific carried 96,255 tons of cargo in June, up 7.6 percent compared to the same month last year.
   Cathay’s cargo load factor increased 1.6 points over June 2005 to 69.9 percent.
   After six months of the year, Cathay has moved 572,552 tons of cargo, up 10.5 percent from 517,920 tons moved in the same period 2005. The airline’s cargo load factor for the year so far has increased 1.8 points to 65.9 percent.
   “For the past few months the story has been very similar — very strong demand out of Hong Kong and China to our long-haul freight destinations, with weaker traffic coming back due to excess capacity in the market,” said Ron Mathison, Cathay Pacific’s director and general manager cargo. “New competitors are coming into the market all the time so we don’t expect things to get any easier. However, we will get a welcome capacity boost when our second Boeing 747-400BCF ‘Boeing Converted Freighter’ enters service in mid-July.”