Cathay volume drops 15.4% in November

Cathay volume drops 15.4% in November Cathay Pacific saw cargo volume drop 15.4 percent in November compared to the same month in 2007, a huge drop signifying just how slow demand has been.
   Cathay and sister airline Dragonair carried a total of 131,758 tons of cargo and mail in the month, while capacity, measured in available cargo/mail ton kilometers, fell by 3.8 percent. The cargo and mail load factor dropped by 5.3 percent t 64.5 percent. For the year to date, cargo and mail tonnage has climbed by 0.6 percent compared to a capacity rise of 2.2 percent.
   “November is traditionally one of the busiest months in the airfreight business but this year the peak simply didn't happen,” said Titus Diu, general manager of cargo sales and marketing. “Demand was much weaker than expected in most of the markets we operate in, with a sharp falloff in Hong Kong in particular. We worked to further reduce our capacity in light of the general situation and we have announced we will park three of our freighters — two from Cathay Pacific and one from Dragonair — with effect from January 2009.”