Cathay Pacific continued to report cargo growth in April, with e-commerce from Hong Kong and the Chinese Mainland supporting the expansion.  

The Hong Kong flag carrier transported 117,428 tonnes of cargo last month, an increase of 7.4% compared with April 2023.

This figure is, however, lower than the 134,551 tonnes of cargo that the carrier handled in March 2024, but it is higher than the 107,039 tonnes of cargo carried in February 2024.

For April, the cargo revenue tonne kilometres (RFTKs) decreased 0.4% year on year. The cargo load factor decreased by 4.2 percentage points to 59.5%, while available cargo tonne kilometres (AFTKs) increased by 6.6% year on year.

Cathay said in the first four months of 2024, the tonnage increased by 10.1% to a total of 473,808 tonnes, against a 12.9% increase in AFTKs and a 4.5% increase in RFTKs, as compared with the same period for 2023.

"In terms of cargo, tonnage was 13% lower in April than in March. The decrease was expected given the strong quarter-end demand in March and the holidays that fell in the first half of April. However, compared with April last year, tonnage was 7% higher," said Lavinia Lau, chief customer and commercial officer at Cathay Pacific.

"After the holidays, we observed an uptick in demand with a key driver being e-commerce shipments from Hong Kong and the Chinese Mainland," she added.

Looking ahead, Cathay anticipates air cargo growth to continue to pick up, particularly on the transpacific lane.

"For cargo, we foresee steady growth in tonnage going forward, particularly on cargo lanes between Asia and North America over the coming months," Lau said.