Cathay Pacific carried a total of 2.055,808 tonnes of cargo and mail in 2017, a year-on-year increase of 10.9%, according to combined traffic figures released by the airline.

In December 2017, Cathay Pacific and subsidiary Cathay Dragon carried 192,190 tonnes of cargo and mail, 10.2% more than December 2016.

Revenue tonne kilometres for the year grew by 9% compared to 2016, while total capacity rose by 3.6%. The load factor increased by 3.4 percentage points to 67.8%.

“Cargo’s strong momentum continued well into December, with volumes growing well ahead of capacity,” said Ronald Lam, director of commercial and cargo at Cathay Pacific. “We were able to sustain a high load factor and high yield during the month. As a result, revenue efficiency gains were observed in all route groups. Not only did our home market of Hong Kong perform well, strong cargo feed from across the network enabled us to achieve an all-time weekly tonnage uplift record in the week ending 9 December. In terms of the nature of commodities carried, perishables were much in demand in the lead up to the festive season.”

Cathay Pacific Cargo operates a freighter fleet consisting of six Boeing 747-400ERFs and 14 747-8Fs.