Cathay air freight volume rose 30% in May

Cathay air freight volume rose 30% in May    Cathay Pacific Airways and sister airline Dragonair saw their joint cargo volume increase 30 percent in May over the same month in 2009.
   The airlines handled 158,600 tons of air freight in May, while its cargo load factor improved 10.9 percent, to 79.1 percent and capacity rose 19.7 percent. Year to date, volume rose 25.4 percent against a capacity increase of 4.8 percent.
   “May is not usually a strong season for air cargo but this year we saw a continuation of the high demand out of key markets seen in the first four months,' said James Woodrow, Cathay Pacific general manager cargo Mainland China and Hong Kong. 'Demand across the network remained strong and a general shortage of capacity in the industry helped to keep the load factor high. Our own capacity rose due a number of extra services and charters mounted in response to high demand, together with the return of freighters parked in the desert last year.'