Cathay continues cargo slide in April

Cathay continues cargo slide in April    Cathay Pacific and sister airline Dragonair saw April air freight volume fall 13.3 percent, yet another discouraging drop in a year where tonnage has fallen 17.3 percent.
   The two airlines carried 123,179 tons of cargo, while capacity was reduced 12.2 percent, dropping the cargo load factor 1.9 percent to 65.7 percent. For the year, the 17.3 percent volume decline compared to a capacity drop of 13.6 percent.
   'The cargo story for April was very much in line with the first quarter of 2009, with continued weakness in the global air freight business overall and soft demand out of Hong Kong and the main manufacturing areas in China,' said Titus Diu, Cathay Pacific general manager, cargo sales and marketing. 'Easter added to the woes, particularly into and out of Europe, and the fierce competition in all markets continued to put pressure on our cargo yield. On the upside, our new freighter routes — Houston and Miami in the U.S., and the Jakarta-Ho Chi Minh City service — continued to make a positive contribution to our business.'