Cathay boosts cargo volumes in March

Hong Kong-based airline Cathay Pacific and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Cathay Dragon, handled 181,189 metric tons of cargo in March, a 15.4 percent year-over-year increase.    Hong Kong-based airline Cathay Pacific and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Cathay Dragon, recorded a combined 15.4 percent year-over-year increase in cargo and mail volumes for March, handling a total of 181,189 metric tons during the month.
   Load factor for the month increased 7.3 percentage points from March 2016 to 70.3 percent.
   Capacity, measured in available cargo/mail metric ton kilometers, was up 3.3 percent year-over-year in March.
   Overall, the first quarter of 2017 saw tonnage rise 11.4 percent from the corresponding period in 2016, with capacity rising 1.7 percent.
   Cathay Pacific General Manager Cargo Sales & Marketing Mark Sutch said the company added Tel Aviv to its network in March, which took-off to an encouraging start with solid import and export volumes.
   Further commenting on March figures, Sutch said, “Asian exports were boosted by a number of new product launches and quarter-end project movements. Transpacific routes and inbound-India routes were particularly strong. Volumes from the Hong Kong market recorded good year-on-year growth. It was also encouraging to see the inbound loads from Europe and North America continue to hold up well. The collective result was a high load factor across the network and improving yields.”