Cathay Cargo is starting 2025 on a high note, reporting a double-digit increase in air freight volumes for January.

The cargo arm of Hong Kong flag carrier Cathay Pacific said it carried 13.7% more cargo in January 2025 to 130,572 tonnes compared with January 2024.

Month-on-month, however, this is lower than the 143,564 tonnes of cargo in December 2024 — the highest tonnage of any month in 2024.

In 2024, Cathay Cargo carried 1.5 million tonnes of cargo, 11% more than in 2023.

 [Source: Cathay Pacific]

For January 2025, available Freight Tonne Kilometres (AFTKs) increased by 14.7% while the load factor decreased by 2.5 percentage points year on year.

"Cargo got off to a slower start after the New Year holidays, but demand gradually picked up pace as we approached the traditional pre-Lunar New Year rush," said Lavinia Lau, chief customer and commercial officer at Cathay.

She noted that during the first month of the year, perishables and seasonal produce from the Southwest Pacific remained robust.

"We also observed increased demand for our Cathay Secure solution attributed to increased valuable cargoes from Southeast Asia as well as South Asia, the Middle East and Africa," Lau said.

Cathay Cargo is anticipating a slowdown in volumes following the Chinese New Year period.

Volumes are also expected to be further affected by the impending cancellation of "de minimis" eligibility for Chinese imports to the United States, which could significantly decrease the influx of e-commerce goods arriving by air.

"Softer cargo demand is expected following the Lunar New Year period," Lau said.