Cathay Pacific cargo volumes partially recover in January

Cathay Pacific’s cargo business saw improvements in January after a difficult period for the airline last year.

The Hong Kong-based carrier reported a 28.1% year-on-year increase in cargo volumes to 95,139 tonnes in January after the carrier had to last year suspend its long-haul schedule for seven days due to stricter quarantine measures.

Compared with pre-Covid 2019, volumes for the month are 42.9% down on the 166,735 tonnes handled then.

The Lunar New Year holiday also fell in January this year, which would have affected performance as factories close for two weeks for the holiday.

The cross-border trucking operation, which had been affected by Covid restrictions, has also improved.

Chief customer and commercial officer Lavinia Lau said: “We saw a small uptick in demand prior to the Lunar New Year holiday, which was supported by more normal cross-border trucking services as the COVID-19 situation on the Chinese Mainland stabilised.

“This resulted in a good level of cargo being carried in the first half of January. However, as we approached the Lunar New Year period, overall demand softened as factories closed for the holidays.

“This drop-off was expected and we rationalised our freighter capacity in advance to reflect the reduced demand.”

She added: “Demand will take some time to recover following the Lunar New Year holidays. We expect regional lanes to resume earlier than long-haul lanes, as is typical for this period.”