Cathay Pacific Airways had a strong September as Cathay Pacific and Dragonair carried a combined 162,116 tonnes of cargo and mail, a year-on-year (YOY) surge of 7.1 per cent on the amount handled in the same month in 2015.

The cargo and mail load factor also rose by 2.6 percentage points to 65 per cent and capacity, measured in available cargo/mail tonne kilometres, increased by 2.2 per cent, while cargo and mail revenue tonne kilometres (RTKs) increased by 6.3 per cent.

In the first nine months of 2016, the tonnage carried rose by 1.9 per cent against a 0.5 per cent increase in capacity and it was flat in RTKs.

Cathay Pacific general manager for cargo sales and marketing, Mark Sutch says: “Overall cargo demand in September was fairly strong and tonnage continued to grow. Exports from Europe, Asia and Mainland China all saw good growth, while demand for freight on our North America routes was robust.

“The last week of the month, prior to the long national holiday in Mainland China, saw us break the company’s weekly uplift tonnage record. Although yield is down from the same period in 2015, we plan to maximise our freighter schedule over the last quarter as we expect demand to strengthen during the traditional peak season.”