Cathay sees cargo volumes drop in July as challenges remain

Cathay Pacific reported a drop in cargo volumes again in July as it faces ongoing capacity constraints and operational challenges.

The group’s July cargo volumes declined by 17.2% year on year to 100,714 tonnes and were down 40.7% compared with 2019 levels.

Cargo capacity in available cargo tonne km terms was down 16.4% on a year earlier and the cargo load factor fell 10.8 percentage points on a year earlier to 71%.

Cathay Pacific said that cargo capacity was affected by weather-related cancellations as well as ongoing operational restrictions.

Restrictions on passenger flying continues to affect the airline’s ability to ramp up its bellyhold capacity to pre-Covid levels, while restrictions on cross border trucking are also having an impact on operations.

The major impact of these challenges was seen on Indian and Americas routes, whilst capacity on European routes grew marginally.

Overall, cargo capacity is around 50% down on pre-Covid levels but the airline is hoping to increase this to around 65% by the end of the year.

Looking ahead, chief customer and commercial officer Ronald Lam re-iterated that the airline is expecting a muted peak season.

“We expect to operate a full freighter schedule in August and going forward, complemented by regional cargo-only passenger flights and more belly capacity provided by our additional passenger services,” he said.

“However, long-haul cargo-only passenger flights will be limited. The situation involving cross-border trucking services between Shenzhen and Hong Kong remains uncertain, and we will continue to monitor the situation closely and adapt accordingly.

“We are cautiously optimistic about a solid seasonal winter peak season, although this is anticipated to be less pronounced than the one we experienced in 2021 in light of the current global economic environment.”