Cathay Pacific saw its cargo business continue to drive its performance for August on the back of persisting demand although capacity constraints also continue to hound the carrier.
According to its latest results, the airline carried 124,278 tonnes of cargo and mail last month, an increase of 21.7% compared to August 2020, but a 23% decrease compared with the same period in 2019.
Month on month, this also showed a 2% rise compared to the 121,600 tonnes of cargo and mail it transported in July.
The Hong Kong-based airline said August's revenue freight tonne kilometres (RFTKs) rose 20.7% year-on-year, but were down 15.4% compared to August 2019, as cargo and mail load factor increased by 2.3 percentage points to 77.7%.
Meanwhile capacity, measured in available freight tonne kilometres (AFTKs), was up by 17.2% year-on-year, but was down 33.8% versus August 2019.
In the first eight months of 2021, the tonnage decreased by 8.7% against a 21.8% drop in capacity and a 10.9% decrease in RFTKs, as compared to the same period for 2020.
Peak season levels
"While August is traditionally a quieter month for cargo due to the summer holiday period in the Northern Hemisphere, this was not the case this year and demand continued to be buoyant both from our home market, Hong Kong, and from across our network," said Ronald Lam, chief customer and commercial officer at Cathay Pacific, adding that cargo capacity increased about 9% month-on-month, reaching approximately 66% of our August 2019 pre-pandemic levels.
Lam noted that Cathay Pacific also began operating "peak season levels" amid mounting demand.
"Towards the end of the month our freighter schedule ramped up to peak season levels, with transpacific flights notably increasing to 39 flights per week," he said, adding that Cathay also added two Boeing 777 'preighters' to its service, bringing the total to six and providing the carrier additional capacity for carrying cargo.
"At the same time, our teams have been agile in responding to the constantly changing operating environment brought on by the COVID-19 outbreaks in various parts of our network. This has particularly impacted our services to Shanghai, where authorities have increased quarantine requirements for ground staff to contain the situation," Lam added.
Moving forward, Cathay Pacific expects the peak season to be robust — despite persisting capacity concerns.
"For cargo, market indicators suggest a strong peak season driven by the need for inventory replenishment, against a backdrop of ongoing air capacity constraints and disruptions to supply chains due to seaport congestion," Lam said.
"We are planning for this, whilst remaining vigilant regarding changes to the COVID-19 situation that could impact operations," he added.
For August, Cathay Pacific said its performance "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."
The carrier carried a total of 135,353 passengers that month, an increase of 278.4% compared to August 2020, but still a 95.3% decrease compared to the pre-pandemic level seen in August 2019.
