Cathay Pacific today released its traffic figures for July that continued to reflect the airline’s substantial capacity reductions in response to significantly reduced demand as well as travel restrictions and quarantine requirements in place in Hong Kong and other markets amid the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic.

In a statement, the Hong Kong-based carrier said it carried 121,600 tonnes of cargo and mail last month, an increase of 19.1% compared to July 2020, but a 28.4% decrease compared with the same period in 2019.

It said the month’s revenue freight tonne kilometres (RFTKs) rose 17.8% year-on-year, but were down 20.8% compared to July 2019.

Cathay also reported that its cargo and mail load factor increased by 5.4 percentage points to 81.8%, while capacity, measured in available freight tonne kilometres (AFTKs), was up by 10.1% year-on-year, but was down 38.9% versus July 2019.

In the first seven months of 2021, the tonnage decreased by 12.7% against a 26.7% drop in capacity and a 15.2% decrease in RFTKs, as compared to the same period for 2020, the carrier said.

Full resumption of freighter schedules

"Cargo capacity in July increased 12.1% month-on-month, driven by the full resumption of our freighter schedule and a 33% increase in cargo-only passenger flights. All sales regions and route groups recorded healthy tonnage growth proportional to the increase in capacity, ensuring we sustained a high load factor of 81.8% across the month," said Ronald Lam, chief customer and commercial officer of Cathay Pacific.

He added that last month also saw more active movement of vaccines and the carrier have now surpassed the milestone of 50 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines carried to locations around the world.

In July, Cathay said it carried a total of 54,092 passengers, an increase of 25.8% compared to July 2020, but a 98.4% decrease compared to the pre-pandemic level in July 2019. In the first seven months, the number of passengers carried dropped by 95.2% against an 81.9% decrease in capacity.

Looking ahead, in terms of passengers, Lam said the COVID-19 and the associated travel restrictions and quarantine requirements that are in place both in Hong Kong and around the world continue to dampen passenger demand for air travel — furthermore, the carrier's ability to service passenger and cargo markets also "remains affected by quarantine and other COVID-19-related requirements impacting our aircrew."

Demand to continue upward trend

The carrier hopes to be able to operate approximately 30% of its pre-pandemic passenger capacity by the fourth quarter of 2021, although Lam said this is highly dependent upon operational and customer travel restrictions being relaxed.

Meanwhile, in terms of cargo, Cathay expects a better picture. 

"On the cargo side, overall demand is trending upwards despite us entering the traditionally quieter summer months for cargo. As such, there is good momentum building up as we move towards the cargo peak season," Lam said.

"Nevertheless, we are still facing many challenges to both our passenger and our cargo business as the COVID-19 situation in different parts of the world continues to evolve," he added.